LISC and the Walton Family Foundation have announced the first recipients of the Spark Opportunity Grant Program, a $2 million initiative to provide planning grants to support the creation of affordable facilities for schools in Opportunity Zones and other under-resourced communities. Twenty-six high-performing schools will receive the initial round of funding, and a second round is already open to applicants.

Fifth Third Bank hosted an event at LISC’s national headquarters this week to announce $100 million in Opportunity Zone investments and tap LISC”s National Equity Fund (NEF) affiliate as one of its four investment partners. NEF will focus $25 million of Fifth Third’s capital to support housing developments for working families, building on its more than 30 years of investments in affordable housing.

LISC and the Walton Family Foundation have launched a new grant program to help charter school operators open facilities in Opportunity Zones and other under-capitalized communities. Applications are available beginning October 1.

The Rockefeller Foundation today announced an innovative collaboration with LISC to implement the foundation's $5.5 million Opportunity Zone Capacity Building Initiative in Washington, D.C., Oakland, Newark, Atlanta, St. Louis and Dallas. LISC will work with city and community leaders to build pipelines of responsible development projects and business investments that attract private capital to Opportunity Zones with nearly 500,000 residents.

National Equity Fund (NEF), LISC’s affiliate and one of the leading syndicators of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) in the country, has named Matthew Reilein as president and CEO. Reilein, brings a career’s-worth of experience driving capital into low-income communities and most recently served as managing director of Cresset Partners, where he oversaw community development and opportunity zones initiatives. He succeeds Joseph S. Hagen, who is retiring after 19 years at NEF’s helm.

LISC has named George Ashton as its new managing director for strategic investments. He plans to lead LISC’s work on Opportunity Zones with a clear-eyed view of the potential for community gains—focusing not just on how much capital can be raised, but on deploying it in ways that fuel lasting benefits for residents. “We are going to drive opportunities that make sense for places we are trying to serve and the systems that we are trying to change,” noted Maurice A. Jones, LISC president and CEO.