By Cindy Larson

The pandemic has shined a bright light on the importance of child care to local economies throughout the country. But, as LISC’s Cindy Larson points out in a new blog, it has long been a critical issue with regard to racial, gender and economic equity as well. A new LISC program, with support from Pivotal Ventures, is helping fuel innovation in child care facilities development to address significant gaps in service, building on decades of work to benefit families, providers and communities.

by Matt Josephs, LISC Senior VP for Policy

Strong public policies have always been critical to promoting affordable housing, economic development, health and jobs. But the urgency surrounding these issues today is unprecedented. LISC SVP for Policy Matt Josephs zeroes in on the goals of LISC’s federal policy agenda for the coming congressional term in a blog highlighting proposals that tackle gaps in health, wealth and opportunity affecting millions of families and their communities.

By Yvonne Nolan

This fall, all schools are struggling to devise ways to safely educate students in the midst of the pandemic. The charter schools whose facilities LISC has helped fund and guide are no different. Yvonne Nolan, who directs LISC’s charter schools financing work, checks in with some of our partner schools, who are taking cues from their communities to forge a new kind of education, and points out the ways CDFIs can help with this difficult process.

By Jeanne Cola

As lawmakers in Providence confront a crisis in the state’s school system, LISC Rhode Island ED Jeanne Cola weighs in with an appeal to consider the comprehensive factors that contribute to students’ struggles, or successes—particularly housing. “As we look at bold ways to improve dismal test scores and address high absenteeism…now is the time to take a holistic approach and provide a consistent funding mechanism to add, or restore, stable and secure housing for Rhode Island residents,” she writes in an op-ed for The Providence Journal.

In Richmond, Virginia, 86 percent of students don't take part in after-school activities—in many cases because they have no way of getting there. Damon Jiggetts, executive director of the Peter Paul Development Center and a 2019 Rubinger Fellow, has devised a new kind of bus company that could change all that, connecting youth to the kind of enrichment every child deserves.

Helen Leung grew up in LA's Frogtown and understands well how the affordable housing crisis has torn at the social fabric of her city. As a 2019 Rubinger Fellow and co-director of LA-Más, she's helping pilot an accessory dwelling unit project that could go a long way to addressing the housing shortage and economic disparities in LA's low-income communities and beyond.