MESSAGE FROM LEADERSHIP
MICHAEL T. PUGH LISC CEO & PRESIDENT
ROBERT R. RUBIN LISC BOARD CHAIR
If we were to use just one word to describe LISC’s approach to programs and investments throughout 2023, it would be this: urgent.
While there are myriad ways to talk about the billions of dollars in community development work that we led and supported during the year, we connect our goals to the well-being of people and places facing significant socioeconomic barriers. Their challenges are often acute and incessant, which means our commitment to addressing them must be sharp and sustained as well.
And yes, urgent.
Our 2023 investment activity offers a snapshot of those values. For the year, the LISC family of programs and affiliates deployed $2.4 billion to bridge gaps in health, wealth, and opportunity across the country. We financed more than 18,275 affordable homes and nearly 1.2 million square feet of commercial, educational, and community space, along with jobs and local services for tens of thousands of people.
The way we design the strategies behind those numbers is also important. We draw on data, decades of experience and, crucially, the voices of communities themselves to identify how, where, and why gaps persist and what approaches work best to address them. Our Local Advisory Boards, community leaders, funders, and colleagues are the compass for community development priorities, and our desire to be urgent.
We financed more than 18,275 affordable homes and nearly 1.2 million square feet of community-serving space, along with jobs and local services for tens of thousands of people.”
IN PRACTICE, that means we analyze the insidious ways that poverty wears away the nation’s social fabric and then fund projects and programs that directly support economic mobility. We consider how market forces and public policies impact growth, and then dive into local opportunities to expand housing, businesses, and jobs. And we recognize the statistical reality that race, income, gender, and geography all influence economic opportunity in America. Addressing those disparities is intrinsic to our work; otherwise, we leave a great deal of our national potential on the sidelines.
Those strategies are evident in our 2023 efforts as well. For instance, LISC and its affiliates made a massive commitment to affordable housing and small business development last year, directly investing in the infrastructure of our communities. But we also focused investments on rural development in places that have experienced the loss of industry and jobs. We financed growth for entrepreneurs who do not have fair access to capital. We supported education and training for displaced and formerly incarcerated workers, and expanded access to childcare, health care, quality schools, safe streets, and green space.
At its core, this is a common-sense approach to investing in our national well-being. The country has significant opportunity gaps; we assemble capital and programs that can help fill them.
In 2023, we strengthened our internal operations to bolster that work. We added leadership and sector-specific expertise at both the national and local levels, with new staff members contributing energy and ideas to our work, while also helping us attract new capital and partners. As we welcomed a new CEO, we also said goodbye to longtime leaders like CEO Lisa Glover and President Denise Scott—both of whom retired by the end of 2023. Their contributions to LISC and to the field of community development are immeasurable. We stand on their shoulders as we move forward.
Race, income, gender, and geography all influence economic opportunity in America. Addressing those disparities is intrinsic to our work...”
AS WE MOVE FORWARD IN 2024, our 38 metro area program offices, two national investment affiliates, fund management arm, national rural development program, and thousands of community partners are eagerly pursuing new opportunities.
We are especially excited about a federal infusion of climate-related funding into the market this year to support healthy housing, businesses, and jobs, particularly in low-income communities. We are also working to unlock new financing for the production and preservation of affordable homes, focusing on the broad continuum of need from homeless and severely rent-burdened residents to first-time and middle-income home buyers. And we are investing in the capacity of local nonprofits and mission-driven housing providers, many of which were pushed to their limits by the strain of the pandemic.
At the same time, we remain focused on helping entrepreneurs launch and expand their businesses—especially in underserved communities and for owners who cannot access conventional financing--while also supporting commercial corridor revitalization and large-scale economic development projects. And even amid the current economic recovery, we are homing in on workforce development strategies that will help arm people with the education, skills, and employment connections they need to build a solid financial future—no matter where they come from or what they’ve endured in the past.
A line from this year’s State of the Union resonates throughout all these efforts: “The very idea of America, that we are all created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives—we’ve never fully lived up to that idea. But we’ve never walked away from it either.”
LISC has been working toward that goal since our founding in 1979. We are in the business of helping create opportunity for all. To strengthen communities and grow our national economy, we will continue to pursue that urgent goal in 2024 and beyond. ■