Sustainable Communities

Washington, DC LISC is active as an investor, convener, funder and broker, focusing efforts in four targeted neighborhoods.  Click on a neighborhood below to learn more about LISC's role.

• Parkside/ Kenilworth
• Southwest
• Ivy City
• Congress Heights
 

We also continue to support our nonprofit partners providing housing and quality of life services for lower income residents throughout the City.  To see more on our equitable development investments, go to Citywide Investments.

What is a Sustainable Community and how do you help create one?

At LISC, we are dedicated to creating sustainable communities. This has a nice ring, but what exactly does it mean? The term "sustainable" is used across many industries and can mean different things.  Please read the list below to learn the key principles guiding LISC's nationwide Sustainable Communities efforts. 

1. Neighborhood/ Community engagement.  Sustainable Communities activities should be rooted in a set of organizing strategies that both can produce a local plan and/or vision for a given community as well as allow for the engagement  of residents and other key stakeholders in the ongoing work of the initiative.

2. A comprehensive array of development activities.  Sustainable Communities initiatives should encompass a range of strategically integrated and mutually reinforcing approaches that are rooting in the neighborhood/community planning process and encompass several or al of the following programmatic objectives:  expanding capital investment in housing and other real estate; increasing family income and wealth; stimulating local economic activity and connections to regaionl economies and beyond; improving access to quality education; and supporting healthy environments and lifestyles.

3. Geographic targeting.  Focusing on one or more neighborhoods, communities or particular sub-areas provides an important lens for the prioritizing and integration of resources and efforts. They offer a variety of housing options that respond to a diverse market of homebuyers and renters of different income levels; they also are places that recognize the value of preserving housing that is affordable for households of limited means.  

4. Neighborhood/ community lead agency.  An entity should be designated to anchor, lead and coordinate the comprehensive effort- to be accountable for the imitative's work in a given neighborhood.

5. Bringing to bear a strong civic partnership among funders, local government community organizations, LISC staff and LAC and other key partners.  Creating broad and well-informed partnerships - both in the community and within the LISC structure itself - adds significant value. Building understanding and early consensus among key partners maximizes the chance for success.

6. Measuring progress and impact at the community level.  Commitment to measuring progress of the initiative at the earliest possible point - both from a qualitative and quantitative standpoint is critical.

7. Intensive, on-going communications activities.  Multi-faceted communications strategies are pivotal.  Effective strategies have included the use of journalism in documenting and telling the story of the community process, assuring that the effort has a common message and brand, creating visibility in order to engage interested parties, attract more resources, and help build momentum, and providing lessons for the broader field.

8. Accountability. There must be accountability at every level- for LISC, lead agencies and other neighborhood actors, including community groups, consultants, funders and city officials.  Accountability must be built into the program model.