By Matt Josephs, Senior Vice President for Policy

The Build Back Better Act is a sweeping package of investments to support underserved people and communities. LISC’s Matt Josephs takes a closer look at this historic opportunity for Congress to break down systemic barriers for people of color, while at the same time fueling an equitable economic recovery from the pandemic.

By Bill Taft, SVP of Economic Development

As LISC celebrates the extraordinary contributions of small businesses this week, we are taking stock of how our grantmaking and other support touched 16,000 small businesses across the country, and what they have told us they need to survive and flourish going forward. Affordable capital and technical assistance top the list. We’ve heard them, loud and clear, and are responding with increased investment, like a new partnership with the Verizon Small Business Digital Ready initiative.

By Bill Taft

Since the onset of the pandemic, LISC has equipped 16,000 small business owners with relief and resilience grants. But to foster opportunity and long-term resiliency for all entrepreneurs who confront entrenched inequities, including people of color, women, immigrants and refugees, and people with lower incomes and wealth, we need a robust universe of small business “ecosystems”: the network of capital, services, and supports that every enterprise needs to get on its feet and grow.

By Teresa Garcia

In the era of Covid-19, connected ecosystems are paying off for small businesses struggling to keep their doors open. Which proves just how critical LISC’s ongoing work to build relationships that support economic development really is, in times of crisis and beyond.

By Patricia Voltolini, LISC Senior Research Associate

The latest white paper from our Research & Evaluation team shows how LISC's ongoing work to support collaborative revitalization of industrial districts, in ways that promote equitable benefits for businesses and residents, helps bolster surrounding communities, even in the age of Covid-19.

Last year, LISC launched its newest subsidiary, the SBA-guaranteed lender immito, to scale our ability to reach and support underserved small businesses and help spur job growth across the country. Julie Huston, immito’s founding president, is a seasoned small business expert—in fact, she recently testified before Congress re: new budget proposals that would hamper small business entrepreneurs’ access to credit. We caught up with Huston at her base in Denver to learn more about immito, the economic and social power of small business, and why all this is so close to Huston’s heart.