The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), is the nation’s largest community development support organization. Their mission is to help neighborhood residents create healthy and sustainable places of choice and opportunity – good places to live, work, raise children and conduct business. In D.C. and around the country, LISC mobilizes corporate, philanthropic, individual donor and government resources and invests them into projects, programs and initiatives that build on assets and addresses neighborhood challenges.
They are a lender, donor, advocate, convener, facilitator and technical assistance provider…and LISC DC has been particularly busy over the past few months using these successfully honed skills to invest in one its biggest projects to date: Conway Center.
“We are extraordinarily proud of our latest collaboration with So Others Might Eat (SOME),” said Oramenta Newsome, executive director, LISC DC. “Being with them, members of the community and our other partners at the recent groundbreaking, clearly showed that the hard work each of us devoted to make this deal happen will pay off exponentially in the creation of homes and opportunities for families and individuals in Northeast, D.C.”
Construction on Conway Center, formerly known as the SOME Benning Road project, broke ground at the end of July and will be the District’s first complex to have affordable housing, health services and job training all under one roof. The community will be a 300,000 square foot, mixed-use complex spanning the block between 44th and 45th Streets in Northeast – directly across from the Benning Road Metro stop – and will cost an estimated $89 million to build. This innovative transit-oriented development project will act as a model for the interconnectedness between housing, health and economic opportunities, a dynamic that is increasingly gaining more momentum within the supportive services and affordable housing sectors.
To successfully invest in projects like Conway Center that provide the trifecta of housing, health and economic opportunities, LISC joined with Morgan Stanley and the Kresge Foundation to create the Healthy Futures Fund. Working with these two partners and LISC affiliates the National Equity Fund and the New Markets Support Corporation, LISC DC invested $34 million in equity to Conway Center.
“Once this community is complete in late 2017,” continued Newsome, “D.C. residents will have access to a comprehensive medical and dental clinic, supportive and affordable housing for homeless individuals and families and adult vocation education. This is a great example of a successful collaboration between diverse organizations all working towards the same goal – greater choice and opportunity for those with lower-incomes in the District.”
As a COLLABORATOR, LISC DC fully appreciates the benefits of its HAND membership, especially in terms of creating a platform to share resources, best practices and ideas at networking events and trainings. Through HAND, LISC DC is able to connect with peers who span the gamut in affordable housing and community development – thought leaders, change makers and other collaborators – all working towards the same goal of improving neighborhoods and communities.
HAND is pleased to spotlight LISC DC, which certainly contributes to our organization’s COLLABORATION, INNOVATION and TRANSFORMATION within the metropolitan area!
Darryl Leedom, MSW, recently joined Wesley Housing as Director of Resident Services. He leads the planning and implementation of supportive services and youth and family programs for the residents of Wesley Housing’s communities. Leedom’s areas of expertise include nonprofit management, direct service to diverse populations, and community outreach. Prior to joining Wesley Housing, Leedom served as National Director for Public Policy at the Salvation Army National Headquarters.
The Community Foundation in Prince George’s County is pleased to announce the launch of Back on Track Prince George’s County (BOT-PGC) a new program developed by the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office (PGSAO). Back on Track is a diversion program focused on reducing recidivism among first-time, nonviolent felony drug offenders. The target population is 18 to 26 year old male and female defendants who have no prior felonious or violent convictions. Eligible participants will be given the opportunity to opt into a 12-18 month program, designed to connect individuals to a career pathway to economic security that links education and training, helps secure life sustaining wage jobs, and helps participants meet their civic obligations. After the successful completion of the program, participants will have the opportunity to have the offense for which they are charged, removed from his/her record permanently.
The PGSAO seeks a nonprofit partner for the pilot of BOT-PGC to provide case management, mentoring, job placement services, and alumni support. Please review all contents of the Request for Proposals (RFP) including the program overview and scope of work to understand the responsibilities of the nonprofit partner and to apply for funding.
Technical Assistance
Eligibility to apply includes attending The Community Foundation’s mandatory pre-proposal grantseeker information webinar on Wednesday, August 5, 2015 from 10:00 – 11:00AM. Grantseekers must complete an online questionnaire here to register for the webinar.
Apply Online
Once you have reviewed the entire RFP to determine your organization’s eligibility to apply, please follow the proposal format and online application guidelines also included in the RFP to apply. All applications must be submitted online on Friday, August 14, 2015 by 5pm. Final grant decisions will be announced by November 30, 2015.
To review the full set of application guidelines, click here.
Questions?
Please direct all questions to Mena Amin at (301) 918-8480 x168 or mamin@cfncr.org.
On behalf of the HOME Coalition, Enterprise Community Partners and the National Council of State Housing Agencies are hosting a webinar TOMORROW featuring HUD Secretary Julian Castro on Tuesday, August 4, 2015 at 3:30 PM
On the webinar, Secretary Castro will discuss Congress’s proposal to severely cut—and even essentially eliminate—the HOME program and how these cuts will impact communities across the nation. Afterward, you can learn more about what the HOME Coalition is doing to protect this critical program and what you can do to help.
For more information, sign up for the HOME Coalition’s list serve or check out Enterprise’s recent blog post on three ways to make your voice heard over the upcoming August Recess.
SOME and D.C. leaders break ground on The Conway Center, first building in city to combine housing, healthcare and job training in one location
So Others Might Eat (SOME) and leaders from the District’s government, business and charitable communities came together at 4430 Benning Road, N.E., Washington, DC, for a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the start of construction for a new building that will bring new hope to the city’s homeless and low income families and single adults. The mixed-use, LEED-certified building will be owned and operated by SOME and feature 202 units of affordable housing, an expanded SOME Center for Employment Training, and a Medical and Dental Health Center operated by Unity Health Care. The building, expected to open in 2017, is located directly across the street from the Benning Road Metro.
“This will be the first facility in the District of Columbia to offer homeless and low-income women, children and men safe affordable housing, job training and health care, all in one place.” said Fr. John Adams, SOME president. “It is a natural evolution of SOME’s holistic and comprehensive approach to serving homeless and low-income individuals and families.”
SOME has been working with local and national public and private partners and raising funds through its Building Hope Capital Campaign to create this first-of-its-kind project. The building is named in honor of Joanne Conway and SOME’s Building Hope campaign chair William E. Conway, Jr.
Since the Building Hope campaign officially launched 2 years ago, SOME has raised $16.7 million of the $20 million dollars needed to leverage approximately $70 million in approved public funding, tax credits, tax exempt bonds and low- interest loans. Over $3 million in capital funds are still needed.
Donations to Building Hope can be made at http://capitalcampaign.some.org/give/.
Once construction is completed, The Conway Center will:
There is a critical need for the services that will be provided at The Conway Center. Approximately half of D.C.’s affordable housing has disappeared over the past decade, nearly 30,000 D.C. residents are unemployed and almost half of primary and mental health care needs in the District are not being met.
“SOME is best suited to develop this project because they understand that both place and people matter,” said Oramenta Newsome, program vice president of Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a nonprofit dedicated to helping community residents transform distressed neighborhoods into healthy and sustainable communities of choice and opportunity. “SOME has a long interest of bringing quality housing and a myriad of resources that improve the quality of life of its clientele and add to the vibrancy of the neighborhood.”
“We hope this development will bring other businesses to the area,” said Linda Jo Smith, chair of SOME’s Board of Directors. “Benning Road is central to Ward 7, and the site will go from being vacant to having a beautiful building where people will be able to get medical care, have safe housing and get job training. SOME is really looking out for people in Ward 7 and the city as a whole.”
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