Stories
More Creative Community Development. More Powerful Art.
David Greenberg, LISC’s VP for Knowledge Management and Strategy, and author of a new essay and workbook exploring the relationships between art and community development, poses a question to our field: what happens when we dispense with our outmoded silos and allow culture-making and social activism to graft? The possibilities are limitless and liberating.
“Real Power is in the Land”: Community Land Trusts—Past, Present and Future
From their Southern roots in the Civil Rights movement to dynamic new efforts in diverse parts of the country, Community Land Trusts (CLTs) have proved to be a powerful means to combatting Black land loss and displacement, building community wealth, and strengthening community health and wellbeing. A recent LISC-led panel brought together leading CLT proponents to discuss the history of community land ownership in America, the rising movement today, and how CLTs are an imperative tool in the fight for economic, racial and environmental justice and equitable recovery from the pandemic.
Paving a Path to Stability and Wellbeing in Rural America
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.
Community-Centered Economic Inclusion, in Practice
In a new playbook co-authored with Brookings, William Taft, LISC’s SVP of Economic Development, and Program Director Elizabeth Demetriou outline the conditions for inclusive economic development in long-underinvested industrial corridors and business districts. Strategic investment in such places, they argue in the following blog, creates a positive ripple effect for local residents, businesses and ultimately the regional economy, and that’s just the beginning.
A “Quantum Leap” for CDFI Funding: The Potential of Securitization
In an introduction to a new LISC white paper on CDFIs and securitization, LISC’s CFO Michael Hearne outlines how our industry might unlock pools of capital that have yet to be tapped for the imperative work of community development.
Promoting What Matters Most: How State and Local Policy Can Help Build Equity
A new report from the LISC Research and Evaluation and LISC Policy teams looks at how state and local policies can help root out embedded racial and economic discrimination, and serve to propel the creation of affordable housing and inclusive economic development in local places. In the following blog, report authors Sara Feierstein and Michelle Harati preview their findings and the crucial ways communities can benefit from policy that promotes equity.