LISC and its affiliates support community development projects through grants, loans and equity investments as well as technical and management assistance.

[7][8] One of the trustees asked Ford Foundation Vice President Mitchell Sviridoff "what he would do if he had $25 million to spend on helping declining cities."

LISC was founded in December 1979 and formally announced in May 1980, with $10 million in capital from the Ford Foundation, Aetna, Continental Illinois Bank, International Harvester, Levi Strauss & Co., and Prudential Insurance.

[11] LISC’s work in the South Bronx received wide acclaim from the media, local residents and government officials.

[16][17] Although LIHTC was initially created as a temporary measure set to expire by 1989, its effectiveness prompted LISC and other organizations to advocate for its extension.

[18][19] Once LIHTC achieved permanency, LISC and NEF launched a program to build $1.5 Billion dollars worth of affordable housing.

FOCs provide low-income individuals with personal career coaching and job placement programs, financial and credit literacy training and access to public benefits.

[33] According to the LA Times, at least a dozen schools in California would run out of money without financing from LISC designed to cover shortfalls in state funding.

[38] LISC's Community Safety Initiative works with police departments and local residents to improve police-community relations and reduce crime.

Compounded with the effects of the Great Recession, this led to a national housing crisis, with market-rate rents becoming unaffordable to middle- and lower-income families in many major American cities.

[44] Under Jones' tenure, LISC began to focus resources on impact investing in an effort to attract private investors from diverse sectors to community development.

[47] With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, LISC responded with new investments to stem the economic fallout, especially to small businesses.