Indianapolis, IN

LEADERSHIP
ExecutiveDirector:
Bill Taft
Chair, Local Advisory Committee:
Brian Sullivan,
Shiel Sexton
CONTACT INFORMATION
333 N. Pennsylvania St., Suite 600
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204
Telephone: (317) 396-0588
Fax: (317) 396-0595
Website

Established in 1992

Achievements by the Numbers:

(By LISC and Affiliates since inception)
  • 6,542 homes and apartments
  • 3.8 million square feet of commercial space
  • $162.2 million total investment
  • $604.1 million leveraged

Profile:

Indianapolis LISC’s Building Sustainable Communities program operates in five target areas: Southeast, Near Eastside, Near West, Crooked Creek, and West Indianapolis. Quality-of-Life plans have been completed for each area and are now being implemented with support from LISC. Within the first three years of implementation, the five plans have attracted more than $125 million to the neighborhoods. Over the past three years, LISC has built a network of six Financial Opportunity Centers that offer three core services – employment placement and career improvement, financial education and coaching, and public benefits access – to help put families on the path to financial stability. In 2010, the centers provided services to 1,549 families. In education, LISC has become more involved in supporting educational programs that help shape the learning that occurs inside the classroom and out in the community. This includes a new creative writing program that works with students to get them excited about writing and facility financing to 10 urban charter schools.

Responding to the impact of foreclosures and vacant properties, LISC collaborated with the Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership and the City to create a strategy for utilizing the City’s $29 million allocation of federal funds. LISC worked with local civic leaders to incorporate the Near Eastside Quality-of-Life Plan into the city’s successful bid for the 2012 Super Bowl. The neighborhood is now the focus of the Legacy Project, and effort by the NFL to create long-lasting, positive community impact for the host city such as advancing goals related to housing development, commercial development, neighborhood promotion, and the creation of a legacy recreation center. In addition, LISC led a commercial district revitalization program that attracted 103 new retail and service opportunities with 475 new jobs to four districts over the past three years.