January always seems to offer hope and possibility, even as one year’s burdens sometimes follow us into the next. That is certainly true of 2022. We may not be able to stop a deadly virus in its tracks, but we can address the through-line of inequality that characterizes much of its impact.
January always seems to offer hope and possibility, even as one year’s burdens sometimes follow us into the next.
That is certainly true of 2022. As we pop the cork on a new year, there is no mistaking the challenges; the nation is still in the midst of a deadly pandemic, we are still facing an affordable housing crisis, families are still struggling to access childcare and small businesses are still navigating shifts in traditional business models.
As exhausting as it may sound, for those of us in community development, there is clarity as well. We may not be able to stop a deadly virus in its tracks, but we can address the through-line of inequality that characterizes much of its impact. We can increase access to high quality education, affordable housing rental and homeownership, and provide small businesses and community service organizations access to capital to address the gaps related to race, class, gender and geography that keep millions of people from realizing their full potential.
At LISC, that’s our focus for 2022. Our lending team will continue to work to deliver patient, flexible, affordable capital to people and places that conventional lenders do not traditionally serve. We will connect the dots from donors and investors to individuals, families and communities so that people can build a good quality of life. And we will continue to help entrepreneurs recover from the pandemic, expanding the grants and loans we made to more than 12,000 firms over the last 18 months.
In this 2021 year-end newsletter, we celebrate the more than $220 million new closed loans. We will feature some of our recent investments in affordable housing and education, just as in prior issues we highlighted work with retailers, nonprofits, developers and professional services firms—many led by entrepreneurs of color and/or women which serve majority Black and Brown communities.
But there is a larger takeaway as well. More than isolated transactions, these are powerful forms of economic development that create quality jobs, generate local income, provide quality education, economic mobility and have significant ripple effects on the surrounding community.
And so, we press forward, inspired by the work of our partners, driven by the energy of the communities with which we work and supported by our investors and stakeholders. In 2022, our lending team will continue to create innovative new financial products to respond to local needs. We will continue to review our policies and practices to improve our racial equity in lending. We will build new partnerships that deliver capital and support to communities. And we will connect our financing to critical local programs that provide management assistance to businesses, quality education with diverse leadership, housing resources for families and health gains for communities.
This year is a chance for us to catalyze opportunities that would not otherwise be possible. We look forward to collaborating with you in this important work.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Connie Max, Executive Vice President, Lending
Connie Max currently serves as LISC’s executive vice president of Lending. Ms. Max leads the daily operations of the lending division including, originations, closings and asset management of its $425 million portfolio. Ms. Max also supports efforts to raise and deploy special funding sources. Most recently, Ms. Max served as Vice President and Chief Credit Officer for the Nonprofit Finance Fund managing the approval and portfolio management processes. Previously, she served as the Director of Prudential Financial’s Social Investment Division, managing a portfolio of socially motivated investments of debt, equity and tax credits.