A recent spate of articles about LISC local office leaders shine a bright light onto the commitment, expertise and hard work our executive directors bring to the complex and demanding job of investing in communities that have been marginalized. Check out these conversations with Hampton Roads, Virginia's Jay Grant, New York's Valerie White, and Jacksonville's Dr. Irvin Cohen.
Building the capacity of Hampton Roads, Virginia's frontline community groups
In an indepth profile in the The Virginia Pilot, Jay Grant, LISC Hampton Roads executive director, describes the work of building the capacity of local organizations and investing in affordable housing and small business development to strengthen local communities. And if that weren't enough, Grant also grows native Muscadine grapes and bottles his own wine, and has published a book of his own inspirational quotations. “I love what I do. It’s a job, but it’s more about fulfilling goals,” he said.
A life dedicated to affordable housing
Before becoming senior executive director of LISC New York, Valerie White worked for more than three decades in the public, private and nonprofit sectors, bringing investment to public housing and economic and workforce development across the city. In April 2020, with the pandemic in full swing, she took the helm of a team she wouldn't meet in person for months because of lockdown, but still succeeded in leading LISC's investments in New York's underserved communities that have created meaningful opportunity. She describes the process in an interview with NYN Media.
Working towards a society where teachers can afford to buy a home
ReGina Newkirk Rucci, host of The Business of Race podcast, sat down with LISC's Dr. Irvin PeDro Cohen, executive director of LISC Jacksonville, to discuss building generational wealth, equitable access to homeownership, and how corporations can support employees to be in a position to become homeowners. “The fact that we have a society where teachers can't afford to purchase a home, to me, is just unconscionable,” said Cohen. “We have to look at how to raise incomes of our frontline professionals up to a level where they can buy a home if they so desire.”