By Lisa Glover, LISC CEO

Seemingly intractable issues like racial and gender wage inequities and the benefits cliff keep people mired in poverty in America. But these are systemic failures, not facts of nature, and a national financial inclusion strategy that supports investments in economic empowerment, could go a long way toward closing our country’s unconscionable wealth gaps.

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.

An article in Next City looks at how the machinery of government, at all levels, will need to be re-aligned under the new Administration, in order to serve all Americans and promote racial and economic equity. LISC CEO Maurice A. Jones weighs in on how HUD can be reinvigorated and poise itself to address critical housing needs in 2021 and beyond.

LISC CEO and president, Maurice A. Jones, moderated a panel discussion for the Congressional Black Caucus’ Annual Legislative Conference. A group of business and economy experts examined the racial wealth disparities that plague our country and ways programmatic and policy solutions can help close the gap.

LISC CEO Maurice A. Jones joined a panel of researchers and other experts brought together by the Philadelphia Fed to discuss how government at all levels can help small businesses recover from the pandemic, and how these programs must evolve to ensure equitable recovery. The webinar is part of an ongoing series examining best practices for bringing about equity as we emerge from the crisis.

For the nation to be competitive, we must pursue economic justice and close the racial wealth gap, write LISC CEO Maurice A. Jones and board chair Robert E. Rubin in an op-ed for The Hill. They lay out concrete bipartisan steps that government can take today to lift millions of Americans out of poverty and promote an equitable economic recovery.