Treasury Awards LISC $70MM in New Markets Tax Credits to Stimulate Economic Development, Create Jobs in Low-Income Communities

News provided by

Local Initiatives Support Corporation

Feb 25, 2011, 12:25 ET

NEW YORK, Feb. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Treasury Department has awarded the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) $70 million in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) investment authority as part of its $3.5 billion in 2011 allocations. That brings LISC's total New Markets allocation since 1993 to $693 million, the largest in the country.

"We are very pleased that Treasury's ongoing confidence in LISC will result in significant additional resources to help revitalize distressed areas and stimulate economic development," noted Michael Rubinger, LISC president and CEO. "Particularly in this economic environment, it is critical that we continue to support the needs and aspirations of low-income communities," he stressed. "This allocation will help LISC fund critical new projects that underpin broad-based revitalization and create thousands of jobs in the places that need them most," he said.

To date LISC has closed on some $550 million in New Markets transactions and has a solid pipeline of additional high-impact projects that this new allocation will help support. "We are eager to move forward with developments that will bring new retail, new schools, new arts and recreational facilities and new life to disinvested commercial corridors in economically hard-hit neighborhoods," commented Kevin Boes, president of LISC's New Markets Support Company. "New Markets Tax Credits are an important tool to help disadvantaged communities realize significant, lasting change."

LISC's New Markets activity is part of the organization's overall Building Sustainable Communities strategy to improve the quality of life in low-income communities and raise the standards of living for the families who live there. For more on the comprehensive work of Building Sustainable Communities, go to http://www.lisc.org/sustainable.

About LISC

LISC combines corporate, government and philanthropic resources to help nonprofit community development corporations revitalize distressed neighborhoods. Since 1980, LISC has raised more than $10 billion to build or rehab nearly 254,000 affordable homes and develop 38 million square feet of retail, community and educational space nationwide. For more information, visit www.lisc.org or for NMTC info visit www.liscnewmarkets.org.

Contacts:
Kevin Boes, President, LISC New Markets Support Co.
312-697-6467 or [email protected]
Colleen Mulcahy, LISC/NEF Communications
312-697-2482 or [email protected]