Giving Compass' Take:

• Philanthropy News Digest interviews Maurice Jones, CEO of Local Initiatives Support Corporation in which they discuss how the investments his organization makes in the community will bring them more opportunities. 

• How can investing in local communities help empower them? 

• Read about how the investment in youth development can lead to successful community development. 

Raised by his grandparents in rural Virginia, Maurice Jones knows from personal experience how challenging it can be to live in an under-resourced community.

From 2012-2014, he served as deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development And, immediately prior to becoming president and CEO of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation in 2016, he served as secretary of commerce and trade for the Commonwealth of Virginia, where he managed thirteen state agencies focused on the economic needs in his native state.

PND recently spoke with Jones about LISC's work in underresourced communities, the power imbalance inherent in such work, and his vision for unlocking the abundant talent and creativity that exists in those communities.

Philanthropy News Digest: LISC works to equip underresourced communities with the resources — capital as well as knowledge and information — they need to thrive. In 2018, what is the one thing underresourced communities in America need more than anything else?

Maurice Jones: They need more investment in the talent that can be found in all these communities. And this investment needs to come in many forms.

We need to prepare people with the work skills and competencies they need for the work opportunities that already exist, as well as for the new opportunities that will be created over the coming years. This is true in every community we work in, whether it's urban or rural, large city or small municipality, town or county.

PND: I imagine you spend a lot of time thinking about the power imbalance inherent in the kind of work you do with underresourced communities. How do you address and mitigate that dynamic?

MJ: Our work is always informed by what we learn from the people who are going to be impacted by the investments we make in their community.

Read the full article about local initiatives by Matt Sinclair at PhilanTopic