A representative of nonprofit LISC VA delivered a presentation during Petersburg’s June 3 City Council meeting, outlining the significant financial services that the nonprofit provides to the community.
LISC, which stands for Local Initiatives Support Corporation, supports community development in cities and rural areas.
“We provide job training, digital literacy and financial training services as well as job placement and workforce training,” LISC’s Program Officer for Housing and Capacity Building, Jonathan Adkins-Taswell, previously told The Progress-Index.
The nonprofit also provides grants, loans and expertise to help construct affordable homes, businesses and community centers. It approaches its investments in communities through four key pillars: affordable housing, wealth building, economic development and lending, she said.
“We’re one of the country’s largest community development nonprofits,” LISC Executive Director Jane Ferrara told City Council on June 3. “…The essence of our work is moving capital and expertise — investing in people and places to grow authentic and lasting economic opportunity.”
LISC recently celebrated its 35-year anniversary serving the Central Virginia Region, Ferrara told meeting attendees. During that time, the nonprofit has invested over $200 million in the region through grants, loans and other resources, she said.
These investments have been “leveraged to almost $800 million of investment supporting 6,900 affordable homes and apartments and 1.1 million square feet of commercial space,” Ferrara said.
The LISC VA team
Most of LISC’s wealth building work within communities occurs through its financial opportunity centers, Ferrara told meeting attendees.
These centers aim “to provide a full suite of financial coaching services to individuals to promote wealth building and financial stability,” Ferrara said. “The core services are employment training, financial education and benefits access.”
“Over the last few years, we have served 309 Petersburg residents” through this center, Ferrara said.
Among other initiatives, the financial center recently launched a Smart Savings program, an asset building program in which participants are encouraged to open savings accounts that are then matched by LISC. The center also offers a digital inclusion program in partnership with Virginia State University.
“Basically we train VSU students to be in the community teaching fundamental, foundational and practical laptop and internet skills,” Ferrara said. “That would include job searches, telehealth, access to resources and those types of things.”
In the last two years, 120 Petersburg residents have graduated from the program and received a free laptop from LISC upon graduation, she said.
In Petersburg, LISC’s PNR program aims to use targeted investments to breathe new life into Petersburg’s historic Poplar Lawn neighborhood in partnership with local nonprofits.
The initiative builds on a 2014 assessment by the Cameron Foundation, which surveyed hundreds of structures in the Poplar Lawn and Folly Castle historic districts. The findings spurred a three-pronged local PNR approach to restore the neighborhood’s historic character and boost property values: helping current homeowners with visible repairs, renovating and filling vacant multifamily buildings with quality rental housing and restoring abandoned single-family homes to sell to new buyers.
“We have done some intensive investment in the Poplar Law historic district focused on renovating historic homes to stabilize the neighborhood,” Ferrara said. “We have so far improved 14 homes… So we’re pretty excited about a decade of improvement in that neighborhood over the last few years.”
Two years ago, LISC also started a home ownership program to help community members “achieve their dream of becoming homeowners,” Ferrera said.
“Specifically, we were interested in working with those folks that had experienced historical barriers to achieving home ownership,” she added. “…It has allowed us to assist aspiring homeowners with down payment assistance, housing counseling and a variety of other services…”
In Petersburg, LISC has assisted 79 families through this program over the last two years, Ferrera said. 68 have become homeowners since 2023, she added.
“We’ve also deployed 120,000 downpayment assistance grants and housing counseling services through our partners,” Ferrera said. “…we’re seeing real significant results around the region in terms of helping people become homeowners.”
Before and after photos of a house at 120 Liberty Street in Petersburg’s historic Poplar Lawn District after it was renovated through investments by LISC
LISC has also been providing economic development services to Petersburg’s residents for at least five years, Ferrara said.
“We’ve been providing low cost capital to small entrepreneurs, particularly Petersburg entrepreneurs, with a 0% business loan program through a relaxed capital access and pairing it with technical assistance, through the small business development program,” she said. “Thus far in the city of Petersburg, we have provided $415,000 in 0% interest loans to businesses across across the city.”
Lending is also core to LISC’s mission, Ferrara told meeting attendees, primarily in its goal of making capital accessible to those who might not otherwise qualify for traditional loans.
“For the most part, we finance affordable housing, economic development and community facilities,” she said.
Moving forward, LISC is working on launching several new initiatives in Petersburg.
Among them, the nonprofit plans to establish additional home buyers programs throughout the city to provide more community members with important home ownership education.
LISC also plans to set up a new heirs property services program to assist families with heirs’ property issues, primarily those involving land inherited without a will or clear legal documentation of ownership. The program will offer community members with a range of support services to help families keep their land.
