Established in 1979, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC at www.liscnet.org) is the largest community development intermediary in the United States, channeling loans, grants, and technical assistance to more than 2,200 community development corporations, or CDCs, nationwide. By supporting and strengthening these non-profit, resident-led local organizations, LISC helps renew the communities where lower income people live, work, and raise families.
The Community Safety Initiative (CSI at www.liscnet.org/csi) is a national program of LISC that builds formal, long-term partnerships between police departments, community economic development corporations and other key stakeholders in troubled neighborhoods across the country to reduce persistent crime, disorder and fear and to revitalize the neighborhood. The partners work together closely to strategically select, coordinate and implement their development initiatives and crime-control efforts in order to produce tangible, synergistic results-crime reduction that promotes development and development that promotes crime reduction. By the unconventional linking of innovative policing with strategic economic development, police and developers aim to attract the kinds of social and financial investments that make communities safer and more vibrant.
