Stories
“One of the Most Powerful Tools We Have”: Improving Health Through Cross-Sector Collaboration
LISC president Denise Scott joined The Root of Issue podcast to discuss strategies for upending negative social determinants of health in marginalized communities. Just as LISC's comprehensive community development work tackles many fronts simultaneously (housing, financial stability, jobs, safety, etc) to help close wealth and opportunity gaps, that cross-sector approach and intentionality are what can make the difference in closing health gaps, too
Listen to the PodcastLISC-NPQ Series: Overcoming Financial Trauma in Rural America
In the fourth installment of the LISC-NPQ series, “Community Strategies for Systemic Change,” LISC partner and Rubinger Fellow Joseph Ceasar explains the high cost of financial PTSD on rural communities of color, as in Lufkin, Texas, where he runs the Legacy Institute for Financial Education. Among a range of intensive strategies Ceasar stands behind is “a trauma informed approach rooted in listening to people’s stories and helping them address challenges arising from personal and family history.” Along with budgeting, lending and technical assistance, this approach can help people can break deeply embedded patterns and step onto the path to building financial stability and generational wealth.
Getting Ahead in America Doesn’t Have to Be So Hard
Seemingly intractable issues like racial and gender wage inequities and the benefits cliff keep people mired in poverty in America. But these are systemic failures, not facts of nature, and a national financial inclusion strategy that supports investments in economic empowerment, could go a long way toward closing our country’s unconscionable wealth gaps.
An Oral History of Innovation: LISC’s Jennifer McClain on 15 Years of Advancing Financial Opportunity
Last year, LISC’s national network of 130 Financial Opportunity Center® sites served more than 25,000 people looking to launch careers, build savings and credit, or buy a home. LISC’s Jennifer McClain takes a closer look at the ingredients – one-on-one coaching, new data management tools, storytelling – and determination needed to build a program that truly empowers community members to build careers and boost financial health.
For Formerly Incarcerated Women in Arizona, a Fair Chance at Financial Wellness
The Arouet Foundation supports women returning from incarceration in Phoenix, helping them work toward financial stability and avoid recidivism—beginning while they are still imprisoned. The Foundation’s Alison Rapping sat down with LISC to explain how the Financial Opportunity Center model, combined with other wrap-around services, has been extraordinarily successful in assisting clients to get past the unjust obstacles that block the progress of so many returning citizens.