On Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday every year—a national day of service—we celebrate not only his legacy but also LISC's AmeriCorps members, who are answering his call to action and dedicating themselves to serve the under-resourced communities we work with, every day of the year. Since the program's inception, LISC AmeriCorps has placed more than 3,400 full- and part-time members in over 102 communities across the country. Meet some of them here, and learn about new and creative ways they are fueling equity and impact through their service.

By Bevin Parker-Cerkez, Megan Ressler & Maggie-Leigh O’Neill

Family child care (FCC) or family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) educators and caregivers are often the most convenient option for many households, but rising housing costs are exacerbating financial hardship and survival for the critical workforce. In the blog that follows, the LISC Child Care & Early Learning team shares some of the immediate challenges for the child care workforce, particularly FCC and FFN, LISC resources that help to address some of these issues, and a spotlight on LISC Milwaukee as they develop affordable housing for educators in proximity to childcare centers throughout the city.

The new Rocket Wealth Accelerator leverages LISC’s Financial Opportunity Center network in four cities to pair financial coaching with a savings account match program to help families of color meet emergency needs, build credit, and grow generational wealth.

Branden DuPont, a 2021 Rubinger Fellow and data analyst in Milwaukee, created a property ownership mapping tool that has the potential to change the way cities handle evictions: “Who Owns What” makes it possible for local stakeholders to identify where evictions are happening, who owns those properties, and which landlords are the city’s most prolific evictors. DuPont sat down with us to explain how it works and why it’s so critical.

The fundamental role of LISC AmeriCorps members is to serve essential community needs. With the onslaught of the coronavirus epidemic, our members are adapting and devising creative new ways to help the rural and urban residents they work with handle the seismic social, economic and public health shocks of the crisis. (Photo: Americorps members in Jackson, MS in 2019; Member Cynthia Renteria is third from left.)

by Maurice A. Jones, LISC CEO and President

LISC is taking swift action in response to the coronavirus pandemic, to mitigate economic impact on residents in the hundreds of communities where we work. We are launching the LISC Rapid Relief and Resiliency Fund to assemble and deploy resources to our local partners, small businesses and residents who are being hit hardest. The Fund will deliver operating capital, emergency subsidies and IT support, as well as technical assistance, to keep our partners and their communities strong and functioning through this unprecedented situation.