Stories
Community Wise Podcast: RVA League for Safer Streets
In this episode, Maurice interviews Paul Taylor, director of the RVA League for Safer Streets in Richmond, Virginia. The League was founded in 2017 by Paul, and the late Jawad Abdu, both returning citizens, to address issues of gang violence in their communities. Before stepping foot on a court, participants attend workshops on problem solving, critical thinking and conflict resolution.
Sports is Community: Creating a New Normal After Disaster
On a post-hurricane assessment visit to Puerto Rico, LISC Rural program officer Anna Hurt learned that baseball fields around the island are more than just a place for a game, they are a vital resource that brings the neighborhood together and boosts local economies. Damage to community fields is still deeply felt throughout the island. In this blog, Anna shares the value of bringing sports and recreation into the disaster recovery discussion and the launch of Play Ball Again, a new initiative to revive 25 fields for 17,500 boys and girls across Puerto Rico. Last week, LISC celebrated the opening of two such fields, with support from Maestro Cares Foundation, Good Bunny Foundation, UNICEF USA, and Chicago Cubs Charities, and showed how communities like the one where Ana lives come together for the love of the game, and one another.
Healthcare Partnerships That Help Heal People and Communities
In a blog for the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Healthcare Quarterly, LISC CEO Maurice A. Jones makes the case for pioneering partnerships between healthcare organizations and community development, uniting to upend the roots of poor health. LISC’s collaborations with ProMedica and Bon Secours Health System, among other companies, are powerful examples of how our combined assets, knowledge and experience can begin to close America’s longevity gap.
The Value of Teamwork
Leading up to Super Bowl Sunday, Maurice Jones, LISC’s CEO and president, reflects on the parallels between our 20-year partnership with the NFL Foundation and his own experiences playing high school football. The 350 fields we’ve created with the NFL Grassroots Program make clear that the value of playing fields extends well beyond the importance of physical fitness: they provide space for youth development, bring communities together, and nurture transformative relationships.
You Gotta Have Park
Common sense, and reams of research, tell us that safe, accessible park and recreational facilities are essential for active, healthy communities. In an article for the journal Parks and Recreation, Beverly Smith, director of LISC Sports & Recreation, deconstructs the many layers of funding, partnership and community will that go into creating these critical neighborhood assets.