Climate Justice
As temperatures rise, droughts intensify, and economic pressures increase, the communities we work with are disproportionately affected by the challenges of climate change. Our climate justice work is rooted in the belief that the places people live, work, and gather are central to their well-being. Since the inception of Politics of Place, we have focused on preventing the displacement of communities by centering local residents to address systemic inequities in housing, health, and economic opportunities. This foundational work has naturally evolved into our current efforts to supporting anti-displacement in climate resilience efforts.
Building on this endeavor, our climate justice initiatives prioritize the social determinants of health, placing communities most at risk from climate impacts at the forefront of solutions. By addressing the environmental and economic challenges to communities facing barriers, we aim to create healthier, more sustainable places that better prepare and protect all communities.
Resilience Hubs
Resilience Hubs are a model for neighborhood-led climate adaptation in which communities take the lead in designing their own futures, with support from organizations like LISC Phoenix serving as facilitators. This mutual aid model helps strengthen community bonds, enhance public health, and prepare for climate-related challenges. By providing technical assistance and sharing our power, LISC Phoenix helps neighborhoods develop community-led action frameworks that address their unique climate risks while preserving cultural heritage, rediscovering and activating their power to control outcomes.
Our focus is on supporting grassroots organizations and local leaders who have independently secured pilot program funding as they explore ways to make their neighborhoods more resilient. Through these pilot efforts, we aim to learn from and amplify the work already being done, with a long-term goal of scaling successful models to other areas.
What's Possible
LISC, Enterprise Community Partners and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York have published What’s Possible: Investing NOW for Prosperous, Sustainable Neighborhoods. With contributions from LISC green and financing experts, the volume is a timely and crucial guidebook to equitable green investing and community development and especially timely on the heels of the historic $20 billion in federal investment to expand access to clean energy and climate solutions.
Resilient and Efficient Building Code Implementation
LISC Phoenix is a proud member of the Resilient Southwest Building Code Collaborative (RECI), a regional initiative that seeks to develop a building code overlay designed to enhance environmental resilience across the Southwest. This collaborative aims to address the unique environmental challenges of our region—such as extreme heat, water scarcity, and energy inefficiency—by developing codes that prioritize energy equity, climate resilience, and housing affordability. By doing so, the new building code will serve as a model for sustainable construction and urban development that safeguards both communities and ecosystems.
LISC is leading equitable community engagement, a cornerstone of this effort, to ensure that frontline communities are not only considered but actively centered in this process. We involve key stakeholders from communities most impacted—including architects, builders, community members, and public officials—in shaping a code that reflects the needs and realities of those who design, construct, and live in these buildings. Resources will also be made available to support local governments and communities in adopting and implementing the code, including staff training, best practices, and certifications. With RECI funding from the US Department of Energy, we are helping to ensure that the benefits of these new building codes extend to all, particularly those most vulnerable to climate change. The multi-phase project will span five years, with community engagement, code development, and training efforts stretching into 2028.
Southwest climate-change initiative relies on critical source of energy — community
A federal initiative to update building energy codes throughout the United States to meet climate-change challenges is ripe for deep dives into topics of power, sustainability and resilience.
Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) - Power Forward Communities
Power Forward Communities -- a coalition led by LISC, Enterprise Community Partners, Rewiring America, Habitat for Humanity International, and United Way Worldwide -- is purpose-built to transform the housing sector, save homeowners and renters money, invest in stronger communities, and help meet national climate goals. A $2 billion, seven-year National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF) grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is providing capital for affordable residential decarbonization throughout the country, with a focus on low-income and disadvantaged communities.
Through a unique combination of financing, market building, and community engagement strategies from big cities to small towns, Power Forward Communities’ work is expected to save families money on their utility bills, reduce emissions, and create healthier, safer, more affordable homes, while creating new American jobs in the trades. It will also increase the supply of and demand for clean technologies, transforming the zero-emissions housing marketplace and bringing down costs. Our goal to decarbonize homes nationwide is supported by 321 organizations, including 156 communities across 46 states in every EPA region.
CDFI Deserts
The number of places that have little or no CDFI access—what we call CDFI Deserts—will limit the reach and impact of GGRF. Almost one-third of U.S. places (cities and towns with a population >10,000 people) are CDFI Deserts. Working to ensure that GGRF’s resources reach CDFI Deserts is an urgent priority for CDFI Friendly America.