As part of an ongoing blog series, LISC’s Anna Smukowski looks at the way LISC is advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through a range of activities supported by LISC Impact Notes, including investments that support Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.
The fourth blog in our series highlights how LISC supports UN Sustainable Development Goal 9 – Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure. Goal 9 speaks to the intersectionality of economic growth, social development and climate action and how they are heavily dependent on investments in infrastructure, sustainable industrial development and technological progress. Inclusive and sustainable industrialization can unleash economic forces that generate employment and income.
Global manufacturing growth has been steadily declining, even before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in a number of cities across the United States, many long-disinvested industrial districts are experiencing a revival and, in the process, creating opportunities for residents and surrounding communities. LISC research examines how industrial districts can be revitalized in an equitable way, ensuring that surrounding low-wealth and communities of color benefit in economic growth.
One catalytic project in the North Mass Avenue District of Indianapolis is the ongoing redevelopment of Circle City Industrial Complex (CCIC), a 540,000 square-foot industrial complex. LISC provided a $4.2 million loan to support redevelopment of the formerly closed southern end portion of the complex to house an expanded set of uses including restaurants, retail and office space, and a performance venue.
Directly behind CCIC, another long-vacant and underutilized 140,000-square-foot building, now named the Box Factory, is undergoing a nearly $20 million redevelopment, $2 million of which was provided by LISC’s New Markets Support Company affiliate. It will include office space and a large recreational center.
LISC has provided over $7.5 million in grants and loans to local organizations working to revitalize districts in Indianapolis and surrounding communities. In just the past five years, LISC has assisted 192 businesses with training, real estate technical assistance, and access to capital to support improved building conditions including 27 commercial façade improvements supported by a LISC matching grant program.
Another example is LISC’s support for revitalization of the Rail Yard District of Jacksonville, Fla. Since 1999, LISC has invested nearly $5 million in loans and grants to support revitalization of the district. Through these efforts a number of early accomplishments are emerging. Membership in the Rail Yard Business Development Council has grown from 10 businesses to 63 enterprises representing 4,694 employees, with increased visibility among the political and broader Jacksonville community.
These are just a few examples of LISC’s broad loan portfolio with investments ranging from job training programs to food manufacturing facilities, and much more.
Supporting the UN’s work on industry, innovation and infrastructure creates jobs, builds wealth and stabilizes communities. As individuals, we now can invest our dollars through the Impact Notes program to support equitable industrialization efforts.
For additional research on how investments in industrial districts can be linked to workforce development efforts, read LISC’s Connecting Local People to the Prosperity of Place white paper.
For more information on LISC’s Impact Notes, visit lisc.org/invest.
Anna Smukowski, Senior Director of Capital Programs, Enterprise Community Loan Fund
Anna Smukowski serves as ECLF’s senior director of capital programs, assisting ECLF’s capital and lending teams with capital raising and fund structuring. Prior to this position, she led LISC’s $200 million retail note offering, coordinated LISC investor relations and positioned LISC’s capital raising within ESG, impact and social bond frameworks. Anna also managed $50 million in LISC’s Paycheck Protection Program deployment and has structured and managed affordable-housing and economic-development funds as well as pay-for-success work through a Social Innovation Fund grant award. Anna is passionate about values-aligned investing from the individual to the institutional level and has worked on updating and implementing missionaligned investment policy statements at LISC and ECLF. Anna started her career as a strategy and operations consultant at Deloitte. Anna holds a bachelor of science degree from New York University Stern School of Business and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Disclaimer: This is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Such an offer is made only by means of a current Prospectus (including any applicable Pricing Supplement) for each of the respective notes. Such offers may be directed only to investors in jurisdictions in which the notes are eligible for sale. Investors are urged to review the current Prospectus before making any investment decision. No state or federal securities regulators have passed on or endorsed the merits of the offering of notes. Any representation to the contrary is unlawful. The notes will not be insured or guaranteed by the FDIC, SIPC or other governmental agency.
Impact Notes currently are not offered to residents of Washington.
For more information on LISC’s Impact Notes, visit lisc.org/invest.