Stories
Op-Ed: What It Will Take to Temper the Gun Violence That’s Tearing Our Communities Apart
In an opinion piece for Philanthropy News Digest, Mona Mangat, LISC’s vice president for Safety and Justice, and Dr. Shani Buggs, a an assistant professor with the Violence Prevention Research Program at UC Davis, a national expert on gun violence and a LISC partner, describe the efficacy of community violence intervention strategies and the acute need for more support for these proven solutions. “When we put our trust in community members, when we choose to listen rather than dictate and when we have people in power who understand and fund community-based work, we will begin to see progress,” they write.
Making Peace at School: Diversion Programs Can Help Stop Youth Violence Before It Starts
In an op-ed for The 74, LISC vice president of Safety & Justice Mona Mangat describes how school-based violence prevention programs, like those LISC is helping pilot with funding from the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, are having a profound effect on the lives of students. These high-touch efforts that involve mentoring and other services, with the right funding and community support, can help sow the seeds of success and belonging, and disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline in too many underinvested school districts.
Community Violence Intervention Works, with the Right Support. So Let’s Support It.
Gun violence is another pandemic plaguing the U.S., and Community Violence Intervention (CVI) workers have proved extraordinarily successful in helping stanch violence in our neighborhoods. In an op-ed for Next City, Dr. Shani Buggs, a gun violence researcher and consultant to LISC's safety and justice team, and Lisa Glover, LISC's interim CEO, argue that to scale and reinforce these efforts, we must collectively help ensure that CVI outreach workers are compensated, trained and supported like the dedicated, life-saving professionals they are.
LISC’s Safety & Justice Work, a Year After George Floyd
In an in depth Q&A with Shelterforce, Mona Mangat, LISC’s vice president of safety and justice initiatives, discusses why safety and justice work is crucial for the community development field, what it can look like on the ground, and the challenges of working toward authentic criminal justice reform.
Neighborhoods, Vacant Buildings, and a Pathway Out of Crime
In an opinion piece for Shelterforce, Helene Caloir, director of LISC’s New York State Housing Stabilizing Fund, and Mona Mangat, head of Safety & Justice programming, make the case for yoking vacant building remediation with community safety partnerships to reduce crime and increase resident empowerment. They point to LISC-supported programs in Flint, MI and Binghamton, NY where this very work brought about greater quality of life and lowered crime rates in targeted areas. Now, they argue, this approach is needed more than ever.
LISC + Brookings: How to Spark Economic Opportunity, with L.A. as a Test Case
LISC’s SVP of economic development Bill Taft, LISC LA executive director Tunua, Thrash-Ntuk and Hanna Love of Brookings' Metropolitan Policy Program offer a concrete outline for how local organizations, stakeholders and policy makers can help spark economic vibrancy and inclusion in historically under-invested communities. Invoking the myriad causes of LA’s homelessness crisis, the blog for Brookings offers a multi-pronged place-based and people-centered approach that is forging authentic change in South LA, and in parts of Philadelphia and Indianapolis, too.