Solutions for Sustainable Communities: 2011 Learning Conference on State and Local
Housing Policy“Meeting Community Needs for Services and
Education”September 27, 2011
Corey CarlisleDirector, Policy and Government [email protected] (202) 772-3133
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Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF)
• Mission-driven organization, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization centered around poverty alleviation
• National Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI)• Headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in LA, New York, and D.C.• Primarily work on Eastern seaboard and in the Western U.S.• Founded in 1984 (27 years old)
Since its founding, LIIF has invested over $994 million in projects serving highly distressed
neighborhoods supported more than 56,000 homes, 55,000 spaces for students,
180,000 child care spaces, 78,500 jobs and 7,000,000 square feet of greener factilities.
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If poverty is a disease that infects an entire community in the form of unemployment and violence, failing schools and broken homes, then we can’t just treat those symptoms in isolation. We have to heal that entire community. And we have to focus on what actually works.
President Barack Obama, “Changing the Odds for Urban America,” July 18, 2008
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Creating Pathways of Opportunity for Low Income People and Communities
Child CareHousing
TOD & Healthy FoodsEducation
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Community Development at the Nexus of People and Community Development at the Nexus of People and PlacePlace
What We’ve Learned
What Hurts•Stress and its role in harming brain development•Inadequate nutrition and health support•Unsafe, unstable homes and neighborhoods•Lack of language support, and the preponderance of negative verbal cues
What Helps•Human capital strategies – quality early care and education, good schools and parent support programs•Safe, healthy communities with a strong infrastructure of services: schools, housing, transportation, health care, food access, and nutrition support•Cost-benefit analysis showing return for social investment so we focus on what actually works
Human Capital and the Built Environment: An Integrated Vision of Community Development