Rural LISC welcomes two new partner organizations, expands footprint to 45 states

Rural LISC gives a warm welcome to two new partner organizations: Laramie Main Street Alliance in Laramie, Wyoming, and NCALL (National Council on Agricultural Life & Labor Research Fund, Inc.) in Dover, Delaware.  The addition of these partners expands Rural LISC’s national footprint to 45 states!

The Laramie Main Street Alliance (LMSA) was created to preserve historic downtown Laramie while enhancing its economic and social vitality.  It serves as the voice for downtown Laramie, an economic center for Albany County.  LMSA has provided free business services to 270 existing businesses and trains new businesses on best practices for economic development, historic preservation, and downtown consumer engagement.   Through these free consulting services and a small façade improvement grant, LMSA has been involved with 296 renovation projects (valued at $11.6 million) and five new construction projects (valued at $2.6 million) since 2009.  LMSA is fortunate to have a strong partnership with the City and private businesses, completing planning and streetscape projects such as the First Street Plaza, lighting the historic Garfield Street Railroad Footbridge, installation of artist-designed bike racks, and the Laramie Mural Project. Since 2009, LMSA has partnered on 38 such projects valued at nearly $5 million. LMSA is part of the Wyoming Main Street program under the Wyoming Business Council and is guided by the principles of the National Main Street Program.

NCALL was originally chartered in 1955 as a nonprofit research arm of the National Council on Agricultural Life and Labor, a national lobbying organization for rural community development which began in post-World War II Washington.  During the 1970s, NCALL expanded from research to provision of housing technical assistance and promotion of USDA housing programs in the rural communities of the Delmarva Peninsula (comprising the state of Delaware and the maritime counties of Maryland and Virginia).  Since that time, NCALL has expanded its services to include housing counseling, financial coaching, loan packaging, multifamily housing development and lending as a CDFI.  It is a technical assistance contractor for self-help housing agencies in a 21 state footprint.  NCALL’s mission is to promote affordable housing, improved communities, and sustainable development, through educating and empowering customers to achieve their housing goals and improve their finances; develop affordable housing and strengthen the capacity of other nonprofit housing organizations; provide innovative lending and services targeted to affordable housing and community development; and increase public awareness about housing needs and resources and advocate for improved public policy.

We’re looking forward to seeing our new partners in June at our Rural LISC Annual Seminar in Monticello, New York!