The Overtown Collective

January 18, 2002

LISC, Civic Leaders Launch Million Campaign
to Rebuild Miami Neighborhoods
Local Investment Expected to Stimulate More Than Million Worth of Total Development in Distressed Communities

Miami, FL, January 18, 2002 - With more than $2.5 million in hand, the Greater Miami Program of Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) is well on its way towards reaching the $5 million goal it has set to support comprehensive community development efforts across Miami-Dade County.

"We are more than half way there, Greater Miami LISC Program Director Denis Russ said at todayÌs press conference launching the campaign. The $5 million we raise locally will be matched by LISCÌs national office, for a total of $10 million. This investment will help more than a dozen local community development corporations develop more than 2,000 homes and apartments for rent and sale and more than 250,000 square feet of commercial and industrial space, with a total economic impact ranging from $50 million to $175 million."

Some two dozen of MiamiÌs best-known civic and corporate leaders are spearheading the local fundraising campaign, led by co-chairs former Miami Beach Mayor Neisen Kasdin, First Union Bank Area President Carlos Migoya and Sonesta Florida Corporation President Stephen Sonnabend.

The largest contribution to date has come from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which announced it was providing $2 million to LISC as part of a targeted urban revitalization program aimed at the transformation of MiamiÌs Overtown neighborhood. LISC will support the development efforts of four local Overtown organizations, and will collaborate with the Collins Center for Public Policy and the Trust for Public Land on other Overtown initiatives.

"The Knight Foundation is quite excited about the broad-based collaboration LISC is part of aimed at renewing Overtown, said Knight Foundation President Hodding Carter III, who hosted todayÌs breakfast announcement. As part of our 50th Anniversary, we wanted to encourage new thinking and new partnerships to help achieve broad-based and sustainable community renewal. The Overtown Initiative is a great example of that new approach."

The Overtown Transformation Project is one of three areas of focus of the LISC campaign. The other focus areas are: Holistic Neighborhood Revitalization; and Performance-Based Community Development Support Collaborative. In all, some 15 Miami-Dade County community development corporations (CDCs) will benefit from a variety of programmatic and operating support generated by the campaign.

The funds from the campaign will be used by LISC to make grants and low-interest loans to CDCs for the construction of affordable housing, commercial space and community facilities, to support job creation efforts, and to provide critical operating support and technical assistance. LISC will use the campaign and the funding to encourage a comprehensive approach to neighborhood revitalization that includes improved housing conditions, commercial and economic investments, and efforts designed to improve social conditions.

"After three years we expect to see an increase in both the productivity of Miami-Dade County CDC's and in their internal operations and organizational strength" said Barbara Romani, Vice President of Citibank and Chair of Greater Miami LISC's Local Advisory Committee. "LISC itself just completed development of a five -year plan to ensure that we use our resources effectively and efficiently, and with this campaign we hope to see the same results in the groups we support. As the Community Development Corporations demonstrate increased capacity and efficency, we feel that they will be able to leverage additional private and public support."

In addition to the three co-chairs, other members of the LISC Leadership Council include: Philip F. Blumberg; T. Williard Fair; Calixto Garcia-Velez; Mehdi Ghomeshi; Adolfo Henriques; George F. Knox; Sidney Levin; William L. Morrison; Ted Pappas; Rod Petrey; Robin Reiter-Faragalli; Mario Trueba; Gwynn Virostek; and Robert E. Hilson.

LISC is the nationÌs leading community development support organization. Since its founding by the Ford Foundation in 1979, LISC has raised some $4 billion from the countryÌs leading corporations and foundations, which it has invested in the community renewal initiatives of some 2,200 urban and rural CDCs across the country. That investment has stimulated another $7 billion worth of public and private support, and helped these community groups develop 120,000 homes and apartments and 14 million square feet of commercial, industrial, retail and community space. LISC helps neighbors build communities.

Click here to find out more about LISC.