Duluth LISC invested more than $2 million to strengthen Duluth’s core neighborhoods in 2012, the group said Wednesday.

Duluth LISC, one of 30 branches of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, provided grant and loan financing to community-based programs and projects that assist both residents and their neighborhoods to prosper. Included are major community development organizations involved in comprehensive community development in the At Home in Duluth neighborhoods of Morgan Park, West Duluth, Lincoln Park and the Hillsides.

“Duluth LISC targets its resources and partnerships to ensure that they have the greatest impact on families and their neighborhoods,” Executive Director Pam Kramer said in a news release. “LISC investments in locally-based community development corporations and other partners helped these organizations strengthen and preserve affordable housing, connect people to better employment, increased assets and educational opportunities, and improve neighborhood safety, business climate and quality of life”.

The group provided $270,000 in operating support grants to Community Action Duluth, One Roof Community Housing, West Duluth Community Development Corporation, the Healthy Duluth Area Coalition, the Entrepreneur Fund and Ecolibrium3. In addition, LISC made a grant of $175,000 to Community Action Duluth for the operation of the Financial Opportunity Center, which provides bundled services in financial coaching, job training and employment support to over 200 Duluthians and is a national model for eliminating poverty. A grant of $75,000 to One Roof Community Housing helped launch the Housing Resource Connection, which is streamlining access to housing rehabilitation programs and homeownership assistance. LISC also granted $35,000 to West Duluth CDC and One Roof Community Housing for community safety initiatives which work in partnership with the Duluth Police Department.

Duluth LISC invested $161,000 in Duluth at Work, a partnership between the city, LISC and five non-profits offering three years of integrated training and support for job seekers and small businesses working to increase their incomes and assets by 25 percent. This, along with City Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, will assist 38 job seekers and nine small businesses.

LISC provided a $350,000 loan to Sherman Associates to assist with predevelopment expenses related to the reuse of the former Lincoln Park School. Sherman Associates plans to create 50 units of affordable housing for families and to lease affordable space for local non-profit service providers including Community Action Duluth and the Boys and Girls Club of the Northland. LISC facilitated Community Action Duluth’s move to the new site with a $50,000 grant. LISC is also providing a $750,000 predevelopment loan to Sherman Associates for restoration of the historic NorShor Theatre into a community performing arts center.

Duluth LISC secures its funding through the support of local and regional businesses, corporations, foundations and individual donors to leverage nearly six dollars in LISC resources for every dollar raised into the community. Now in its sixteenth year in Duluth, the 2012 grants and loans bring the total of direct LISC investment since its founding to over $74.7 million.

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