New York Land Opportunity Program (NYLOP) 2.0

This summer LISC NYC launched NYLOP 2.0, the second phase of our program to help mission-driven organizations develop and preserve affordable housing on their land. Through NYLOP 2.0, we are offering free technical assistance to six non-profit owners of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) 202 housing for very low-income seniors in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan, comprising over 1,000 homes for vulnerable seniors. We are helping groups like West Harlem Group Assistance to respond to recent federal statutory changes to the HUD Section 202 program which will provide owners with project rental assistance contracts the opportunity to access, for the first time, long-term financing for much needed capital improvements to their buildings through the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program. Read about the initiative in The Wall Street Journal and City Limits. We are also thrilled to announce that JPMorgan Chase Foundation recently awarded us a $500,000 grant to expand NYLOP to a broader set of mission-driven organizations across New York City, including veterans services organizations.  [get blurb about Trinity grant]

Commercial Corridor Challenge 2.0

We are thrilled to have launched a second round of the Commercial Corridor Challenge, a collaboration of LISC NYC, Citi Community Development, and the New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS) to strengthen and revitalize the streets, small businesses, and community-based organizations that anchor New York City neighborhoods. The Corridor Challenge 2.0 was made possible by Citi Community Development with seed funding that will support four neighborhood commercial districts in Jackson Heights, Queens; Washington Heights, Manhattan; and the Norwood and Morris Heights sections of the Bronx.

The program will codify and elevate learnings across the field of community development and will provide small grants and technical assistance to select SBS grantees in order to advance these learnings in multiple corridors. In addition to providing targeted grant funding and technical assistance for early action projects in four NYC neighborhoods, LISC will build a resource hub on its website to assist community organizations to plan and implement catalytic corridor improvements throughout New York City and other parts of the country.

Economic Development Lending: The Peninsula

On a bright day in early November, MHANY Management, LISC NYC, the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), and additional community partners broke ground on The Peninsula, a project that converts the infamous Spofford Juvenile Detention Center into a beautiful mixed-use campus serving Hunts Point and the larger South Bronx community. The project will add 740 units of affordable housing, plenty of open space including a new public plaza, community facilities like a health-and-wellness center and a day care, and expansive light-industrial and retail spaces. More details available here.

Health Equity

LISC NYC has led a planning initiative with a group of dedicated CBO and health care partners to determine ways for the sectors to collaborate and improve health outcomes for low income New Yorkers. As a result of this work, we were thrilled to learn that the Kresge Foundation recently awarded a $400,000 grant to our partner Make the Road New York through its highly competitive Advancing Health Equity Through Housing program. These funds will allow MRNY, Fifth Avenue Committee, and LISC NYC to pilot a multi-sector approach to implementing a Community Health Worker home based asthma intervention program. Health care providers, managed care organizations and CBOs will bring their strengths together to improve families’ health and housing conditions and connect them to other needed services.

Cashin Fellows Explore Mt. Eden, the Bronx

Now in its thirteenth year, LISC NYC’s Cashin Community Development Fellowship introduces students in college and high school to the field of community development. A highlight of each summer is the neighborhood tour, led by one of the community-based organizations in which Cashin Fellows serve. This year the Fellows got an in-depth look at the Mt. Eden neighborhood of the Bronx, with one of LISC NYC’s most impressive longtime partners, New Settlement Apartments, leading the way.
The day was an immersive illustration of what comprehensive community development looks like, since New Settlement serves local people with everything from housing to a community center with green roof and swimming pool to a robust college-access program for teens. Read more about the Cashin Fellowship here. Read perspectives from last year’s Fellows, here.

Raising the Bar for Racial Equity

Grace Chung, LISC NYC’s senior community development officer, was selected by the Funders’ Network to take part in its 2019 PLACES Fellowship, a year-long learning opportunity that helps grantmakers think critically about the impact of their work and use it to advance racial, social, and economic equity. Grace’s fellowship year was launched with an immersive three-day visit to Newark, where a variety of local experts sketched a complex picture of the forces, past and present, that have led to racial inequities, the threat of displacement—but also concerted grassroots activism—in New Jersey’s largest city. Read Grace’s reflections on that visit and her work in community development in her blog post, “Going PLACES: What the Newark Rebellion can teach us about philanthropy.” Read it here.