Stories
For Our Children and Our Communities, A Black Mother's Call To Action
In the wake of the horrific shooting of Ralph Yarl, LISC's Holly Long asks readers of an opinion piece for The Kansas City Star to challenge the systemic issues that perpetuate violence that Black children and adults face every day. As a Black mother parenting children in the same city where the 16-year-old was shot, she poses the question: “When will a child’s innocent mistake no longer turn into a matter of life and death?”
Affordable Housing Loss Grows as ‘Qualified Contracts’ Sap Thousands of Housing Credit Units
LISC is pressing Congress and state housing officials to address the troubling effects of QCs, which reduce the amount of rental housing that is available to families with low incomes. " As a country, we can’t afford to let that continue,” write LISC’s Matt Josephs and Michael Skrebutenas, in a new commentary on the issue. "We can’t afford to subsidize affordable housing development for public good only to watch it slip away for private windfall."
During Filipino American History Month, Reflecting on What a Cultural Center Can Mean to a Community
In this Community Wise blog, LISC Indianapolis’ Ephraim Palmero celebrates his community, and the journeys and contributions of Filipino Americans who have come before him. Community centers, he argues, like the Philippines Cultural Community Center in Indy, are invaluable spaces and resources for the members of any diaspora, and they form an intrinsic part of inclusive community development that we must support.
The Inflation Reduction Act’s Climate Investments and What They Mean for Community Development
The Inflation Reduction Act, a sweeping health care, climate and tax package signed into law in August, presents groundbreaking opportunities to combat environmental injustices. LISC’s Mark Kudlowitz examines how the new law can impact community development and revitalize communities that have long suffered disproportionate impacts from climate change.
Connecting Communities through Affordable Broadband
LISC’s Michelle Harati looks at how recent federal investments in broadband affordability will help connect more households and expand access to shared prosperity within historically underserved communities.
Double Down on ‘Local’ to Empower Families and Communities
From pandemic relief to racial equity, success is as dependent on a strong social infrastructure in communities as it is on the dollars that flow through it, writes LISC President Denise Scott, in a new commentary. “To support just and resilient communities, we must invest in the capacity of place-based organizations to plan, execute, measure, adjust and sustain community development gains.”