By Michelle Harati, Senior Policy Officer

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.

By Patricia Voltolini

A new LISC research paper demonstrates how intensive community development initiatives in two rural regions of California sowed the seeds of stability and revitalization for local people and places. Co-author and LISC senior research associate Patricia Voltolini explains why these findings are so significant, and what they can teach practitioners, policy makers and local leaders about the imperative of investing in collaborative community-serving projects.

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.

"The infrastructure of our communities is not just physical; it is also social and economic,” said Caitlin Cain, the new director of Rural LISC. In a wide-ranging conversation, she talks about the impact of COVID-19, the importance of investing in communities of color and the tremendous range of rural innovation that already exists—and needs appropriate capital to grow.

By Anna R. Hurt

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.

In an interview with Shelterforce editor Miriam Axel-Lute, Jim King of FAHE in Appalachia and Bill Bynum of HOPE in the Mississippi Delta, two longtime LISC partners, discuss the challenge of persistent poverty in rural communities. Investing in rural areas—and dispelling stereotypes about them—they argue, is critical for the health of the entire country.