LISC's CEO Maurice A. Jones is quoted in a Wall Street Journal article on the challenges of ensuring PPP loans are accessible to entrepreneurs of color and those in underinvested communities. Data is a key to understanding who's benefiting, says Jones, and LISC's PPP program has targeted underserved borrowers who may not have traditional banking relationships.

by Maurice A. Jones

Over the next ten years, LISC will direct 50 percent of our annual investments to fuel inclusive economic development in underinvested communities across America. That means preparing people to take on high quality, well-paying jobs. And it means ramping up our work to help small businesses succeed and transforming vibrant commercial and industrial districts. “We have no doubt that this kind of progress is good for residents, good for communities and good for the country,’ says Maurice A. Jones, LISC CEO.

Read all about it—or at least part of it—in a wide-ranging interview with Next Street, wherein Maurice A. Jones talks about new avenues for partnership and funding, balancing our interests in housing and business, and whether or not CDFIs are too much like banks.