Mission Statement
LOCAL INITIATIVES SUPPORT CORPORATION helps resident-led, community-based development organizations transform distressed communities and neighborhoods into healthy ones -- good places to live, do business, work and raise families. By providing capital, technical expertise, training and information, LISC supports the development of local leadership and the creation of affordable housing, commercial, industrial and community facilities, businesses and jobs. We help neighbors build communities.
LISC operates on three levels:
- Providing Direct Assistance to Individual CDCs. LISC acts as an intermediary for over 900 corporations and foundations, providing technical and financial resources to help CDCs become strong and stable neighborhood institutions characterized by effective and responsible fiscal management and capable of carrying out a range of community revitalization activities.
- Improving Local Community Development Environments. LISC, through local programs it establishes in selected cities and regions throughout the country, works to build environments in which CDCs can be successful -- environments characterized by partnerships among local LISC programs, community organizations, local foundations, private industry, and state and local governments. The cooperative efforts of these partners ensure that CDCs have access to the resources they need to produce physical redevelopment results with enough scale and impact to stimulate permanent community renewal.
- Strengthening National Support for Community Development. LISC brings national resources to local programs and promotes the exchange in adaptation of effective, creative community development strategies among these localities. As an advocate of CDCs, LISC strives to enhance the visibility and credibility of neighborhood-based development, and to influence public policy decisions affecting the community development industry.