Using generous grants from The Home Depot Foundation, the LISC Green Development Center has advanced numerous green efforts. Some examples:
Bay Area
Bay Area LISC has launched "Green Connection" — a program designed to (i) educate new affordable housing project developers about green building principles and encourage them to incorporate these principles into project scopes, and (ii) promote the inclusion of greener capital improvements and maintenance practices into existing affordable housing properties. Key partners include Build it Green and HUD.
Boston
Boston LISC has created a "green screen" assessment tool with partner New Ecology, Inc. More than a dozen project sponsors and design team members are using the tool to plan projects that will take maximum advantage of greening opportunities. Boston LISC is also assembling a capital pool to provide short and long term financing for green projects.
Chicago
Chicago LISC runs the Building Green Initiative, which gives community development corporations (CDCs) with green expertise the opportunity to mentor other CDCs that are new to green building. Mentors include Mercy Housing Lakefront and Claretian Associates.
Duluth
Duluth LISC is involved in a number of green building
projects:
Women in Construction Company (WiCC), is building a solar demonstration model home incorporating state-of-the-art energy efficiency design components. Local agencies participating in this project include Minnesota Power, Duluth Housing & Redevelopment Authority, the City of Duluth--Cities for Climate Protection, Conservation Technologies, and Clean Water Action. Center City Housing Corp. (CCHC), is developing 70 units of permanent, supportive affordable housing serving homeless individuals constructed with various sustainable elements. In addition, Northern Communities Land Trust (NCLT), established an affiliate subsidiary, Common Ground Deconstruction
Hartford
Hartford LISC held a training on green building with information on green building approaches, how they impact the development costs, impact on the asset for the long term, guidelines for incorporating resource efficiency, energy efficiency, water efficiency, environmental quality and innovative materials.
Jacksonville
Jacksonville LISC is using green building technologies as a way to differentiate LISC CDC constructed single family homes from rest of the residential market. It is creating five different green designs that will be built at various locations and then monitored to show the impact of the green design. Key partners include Jacksonville Electric Authority and Florida Energy Extension Services.
Philadelphia
Philadelphia LISC focuses on energy efficiency and affordability through the Philadelphia Green HOMES Initiative. It is working with a number of local and regional partners to improve the capacity and understanding of the benefits of green building for the nonprofit development community. Key partners include Project H.O.M.E. (CDC) and Asociacion de Puertorriquenos en Marcha (APM).
Twin Cities
Twin Cities LISC is partnering with The Green Institute , a Minneapolis-based CDC with significant green experience that will act as mentor and to other CDCs in the Twin City community development field, providing them with direct technical assistance during the project design phase. In addition, it is working with the University of Minnesota Center for Sustainable Building Research to document the impact of this work.
Virginia
Virginia LISC runs the Sustainable Communities Initiative (SCI), which collects local information/research on green building and distributes it to the local CDC community. SCI is also helping two partner CDCs implement green strategies. It provided financial assistance to Winchester Forest, an 80-unit, single-family affordable housing project in Richmond developed by the Better Housing Coalition and built to the Southface Institute’s Earthcraft guidelines.
Washington, DC
Washington, DC LISC’s Green Homes program invests directly in projects and provides trainings and consultants to CDCs interested in bolstering their green understanding and capacity. Key partner Manna, Inc. provides much of the community development expertise with green building.
Contact our Local Offices to see how LISC can Help You/Your Project.
