About Us
We are LISC — the Local Initiatives Support Corporation. It may be a mouthful, but our name does, in fact, say it all. Simply put, we support local initiatives in primarily low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.
We are a national organization with a grassroots focus. LISC has offices in 35 cities and works in hundreds of rural communities across the country. Our collective goal is to create socially and economically vibrant and sustainable neighborhoods, with living wage jobs, local businesses, good schools, quality housing, reliable transportation and needed amenities. With residents and partners, we forge resilient and inclusive communities of opportunity across America – great places to live, work, visit, do business and raise families.
The Ford Foundation and six corporations created LISC in 1979 to address the need for resources to revitalize economically distressed urban neighborhoods by investing in community development corporations. The core concept for LISC was that community residents and their development corporations have the best understanding of local needs and conditions.
A local affiliate, LISC Chicago was founded in 1980 and since has been a pioneer in the local and national community development field. We provide grants, loans, technical assistance and other resources to more than 70 partner organizations in low- and moderate-income communities across Chicago.
Our approach is to build local capacity to organize and engage stakeholders, plan for a comprehensive community vision, act to implement that vision, and communicate successful outcomes.
The work is comprehensive. Everything we do is based on the idea that engaging local leadership is foundational to effective community development and sustainable impact.
To see more of our work and stories from previous years, visit LISC Chicago’s archived website.