LISC unveils $100M of "Neighborhoods Now" planned investment

Detroit's Local Initiative Support Organization unveiled plans totaling $100 million for seven targeted areas. The plans were developed over the last two years by community groups and residents, says Deborah Younger, Detroit LISC program director. "No one knows best what a community needs than the folks that live there,"Younger says.

The seven areas fall under one of two targets: Strategic Investment Area or Regional Investment Initiative. The former groups community development corporations with service providers, residents, businesses, government agencies and other stakeholders to craft plans for their areas. The latter pairs CDCs from Detroit with partners from inner ring suburbs to attempt to bridge a gap between the cities and to address shared needs.

SIA areas include Southwest Detroit which will attempt to build on its cultural and historic heritage and increase market rate housing; Far East/Lower East Side which will develop mixed income housing and increase retail services; Northwest Detroit which will focus on infill housing and a strengthened commercial corridor; and Central Woodward which will focus on workforce training, mixed-income housing and retail.

RII teams paired up the Jefferson East area with Grosse Pointe; the South Fort/Visger Corridor  with Ecorse, Lincoln Park, and River Rouge; and Van Dyke - 8 Mile with Center Line and Warren. RII was supported primarily by the Ford Foundation with the objective that similar efforts can be replicated across the country.

Now that general plans have been crafted for each of the areas, LISC will target fundraising efforts towards foundations and others that support each particular initiative a community has identified. Already $38 million has  been secured; an estimated $100 million is needed to complete the initiatives. LISC will also continue to play a public policy role as well as connecting neighborhood groups with larger economic development initiatives.

Source: Deborah Younger, Detroit LISC
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh