LISC Institute for Community Power

COVID-19 Toolkit

We’re curating resources and guides from around the Community Development industry to help practitioners turn recent legislation into action and to continue to respond to existing needs in their communities, while factoring in emerging issues related to the impact of COVID-19.  We’re also highlighting Capacity Building tips and tools to help organizations cope with the changing educational demands due to the health crisis. 

We'll continue to amend and update this list as we're made aware of new resources, tools and policy updates.

Tools to turn legislation into action

  • Helping Entrepreneurs Complete Strong Paycheck Protection Program Application
    This webinar from National Development Council provides a line overview of the PPP application so that viewers have a strong understanding of the requirements needed to put together a successful PPP application by the end of the session.
  • Making Direct Cash Payments Work
    In  this first installment in a new conversation series from the Urban Institute, panelists discuss a key question facing federal policymakers: How can we get economic resources to those who need them most in time to respond to their urgent needs?
  • Eviction Moratoriums Mapping
    This tool from Regional Housing Legal Services provides a comprehensive overview of eviction moratorium protections across the country.
  • How Communities Can Use CDBG Funds to Address Covid-19
    This webinar from Enterprise features a discussion on how impacted communities can use HUD’s Community Development Block Grants to address the pandemic. The webinar features HUD Acting Assistant Secretary for Community Planning & Development John Gibbs and his team.
  • Community Development Block Grant - Overview and Case Studies
    This toolkit from LISC includes an overview of CDBG provisions in the CARES Act, key talking points and examples of how CDBG is being used for COVID-19 response efforts.
  • Enterprise Advoacy Library
    Enterprise's Public Policy team provides the latest updates, analysis and resources on Covid-19’s impact on the nation’s housing security and community resilience and the federal response to the pandemic’s health and economic fallout in their advocacy resource library.
  • NLIHC Research Note: Emergency Rental Assistance Programs in Response to Covid-19
    NLIHC released a Research Note, Emergency Rental Assistance Programs in Response to COVID-19 that provides a descriptive analysis of over 440 rental assistance programs created or expanded in response to COVID-19. 

Tools for Organizational Capacity Building 

  • Reimagining Strategy in Context of the COVID-19 Crisis: A Triage Tool
    The Center for Community Investment  has put together an annotated tool, a sample tool, a blank tool template, and instructions for facilitating group use of the tool to help organizations make choices about what’s needed and what’s possible going forward.
  • Stress Testing Your Portfolio: Asset Managers Coping with COVID-19
    In this webinar CHAM presents leading syndicators and owners of mission based affordable housing who demonstrate sensitivity analyses to create portfolio scenarios to help manage the crisis.
  • Accessing Resident Data
    In this webinar, the LISC Research team provides guidance on two free mapping resources to help community organizations identify populations most vulnerable during the COVID crisis.​
  • StrengthMatters Response to COVID 19
    This webinar from StrengthMatters explores topics including: transition to work from home, changing/new cybersecurity issues, use of Zoom, Microsoft Team and other collaboration tools, increasing resident/property technology needs, emerging supply chain concerns
  • COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Resources for Nonprofits
    The Bridgespan Group has curated a collection of  resources with guidance for nonprofits on navigating the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis and the economic downturn.

Implementation tools and strategies