Latino Equitable Development Collective (LEDC)
The Latino Equitable Development Collective (LEDC) is a network of 13 community-based nonprofit organizations with a collective goal to alleviate economic challenges faced by residents of Eastern North Philadelphia. After working together within the community for decades, and with leadership from Ceiba, key organizations began formally organizing in January 2018 to establish the Latino Equitable Development Collective. The LEDC has since created a common agenda to guide their collaborative strategy for addressing affordable housing, workforce development, food security and the rights of immigrants and limited English-proficient individuals.
LEDC/LISC Partnership
With $3.5 million invested since June 2021 through the United Way's The Promise Family Stability Challenge, LISC Philadelphia has partnered with six key LEDC organizations: Ceiba, Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha (APM), Congreso de Latinos Unidos,HACE CDC, Xiente, and Esperanza to collaboratively connect more residents in their communities to family stability services including:
- Connections to public benefits and other services including income, food, utilities, mortgage and rental assistance, health insurance, childcare, education, and housing counseling
- Tax preparation, including access to Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN)
- Referrals to longer-term term job training and financial education programs
Annually since 2021, LISC's LEDC partners have connected more than 10,000 residents to $1.5 million in tax credits and 15,000 public benefits and services.
LISC Role: LISC supports the collaborative to measure its impact and additionally provides a web-based tool to make interagency client referrals to each other using Airtable software. In the past 2 years, more than 200 people have been referred by 45 LEDC partners for essential financial stability resources.