Stories

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Anatomy of a Small Biz Partnership with Kevin Hart

Steve Hall, LISC’s vp for small business lending, recently joined entrepreneurship columnist Gene Marks on the Paychex Thrive podcast to describe how LISC’s partnership with Kevin Hart and his Gran Coramino tequila brand gets grants to Black and Latinx small biz owners—and why that’s so important. Part of the beauty of the collaboration, said Hall, is how Hart puts his all into creating opportunity for others, “even through his comedy.”

Paychex Thrive Podcast  
5.23.2023 -

Getting to the “Tipping Point”: LISCers Describe the Why and How of Connecting Entrepreneurs of Color With Capital and Know-how

In a series of videos from JP Morgan Chase on how the bank's impact investments are helping BIPOC small businesses grow, George Ashton, president of LISC Fund Management, and Sonja Dean, program officer at LISC Kalamazoo, describe their motivation for connecting entrepreneurs of color with the loans, networks and knowledge base they need to thrive.

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4.25.2023 -

In an Inflationary Environment, Are Bond Buyers Still Interested in CDFIs?

In a new ImpactAlpha blog, Christina Travers and Kathleen Keefe discuss LISC’s recent experience in the capital markets and what it might signal about investor engagement with CDFIs. “Is this environment forcing investors to step back from community development finance? Or, are they willing to respond with “catalytic capital” that specifically meets this moment?”

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2.09.2023 -

How LISC Detroit Has Been Bringing Racial Equity to Home Repairs

Route Fifty, a publication that targets state and local government leaders, reports on the extraordinary impact of Detroit’s zero percent home repair loan program, which LISC has been running since 2015. To date, the program has helped nearly 700 families make critical repairs to their homes and is, at its root, “a Black homeownership preservation tool for really intergenerational wealth-building strategy,” says LISC’s Damon Thompson, who is quoted alongside LISC President Denise Scott.

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Phoenix Community Grows With a Taste of Ethiopia

LISC Phoenix program officer David Longoria sat down for lunch at Authentic EthioAfrica with owner Anduale Hassan, who emigrated from Ethiopia in the 1990s with a vision for creating a community space—and two decades of experience in the food business to help make it a reality.

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Maurice A. Jones in the WSJ: Getting PPP to the Communities That Need it Most

LISC's CEO Maurice A. Jones is quoted in a Wall Street Journal article on the challenges of ensuring PPP loans are accessible to entrepreneurs of color and those in underinvested communities. Data is a key to understanding who's benefiting, says Jones, and LISC's PPP program has targeted underserved borrowers who may not have traditional banking relationships.