By Lisa Glover, LISC CEO

In a new blog, LISC CEO Lisa Glover takes a closer look at LISC’s innovative collaboration with Abbott to fuel diverse suppliers in the healthcare field—supporting inclusive gains in jobs, health and family incomes as well. “All told, the program is a pro-growth, pro-equity model for small business financing that is designed to have a long-term impact well beyond the work being done today,” she writes.

By Lisa L. Glover, Interim LISC President & CEO

Three important new federal funding awards will help LISC build the capacity of community-based organizations, while also attracting tens of millions of dollars in private capital to small businesses and economic development projects. Taken as a whole, they illustrate the importance of connecting policy and program expertise to maximize community development resources and create more opportunities for families to thrive.

“It is time not only to invest more, but also invest differently, in the well-being of American workers, especially the significant pool of untapped talent that already exists,” said LISC CEO Maurice A. Jones and Citi EVP Ed Skyler in a joint op ed published in USA Today. They urge employers and nonprofits to look closely at the success of community-based Bridges to Career Opportunities programs as a model for helping unemployed and underemployed workers break down barriers to quality jobs, while helping businesses fill millions of open positions that they need for growth. Citi Foundation has partnered with LISC on a $10 million grant to fuel 40 Bridges programs across the country.

In an op-ed for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, LISC CEO Maurice A. Jones and Howard Kern, president and CEO of Sentara Healthcare, describe how their new $100 million will take aim at the social determinants of health in Virginia. Investing in housing, job training and placement, education and transportation, among other requisites of a healthy life, are key to closing the life expectancy gap and creating a strong economy, they argue. Now is the time for corporations, nonprofits and charitable organizations to play leadership roles in making those investments a reality.

In a Q & A with The Conference Board, LISC CEO Maurice A. Jones describes how our Bridges to Career Opportunities programs, embedded in Financial Opportunity Centers across the country, connect local talent with industries in need of skilled workers. LISC’s partnerships with employers in healthcare, manufacturing, information technology and transportation, among others, are the key to those connections, and are helping fuel training and education for thousands of people eager to get to work.