Collaborations

Focus Areas

CHANGE, IMPACT, METAMORPHOSIS

Lisa’s work centers on driving social and economic impact. Her clarity about how sustainable change happens–by focusing on social and economic equity, by intentionally scaling solutions that work and deepening impact, and by activating and supporting ecosystems–helps Lisa unearth creative model designs and financial strategies to solve complex issues.

She's obsessed with scaling sustainable solutions to social and economic issues with a bottom-up ecosystem methodology: people in the communities crafting their fixes; financing models to match community needs; collaborative partnerships that include members of the communities served.

In short, Lisa is about collaborating with people who don’t just talk about transformation–they do transformation. Her current work is driven by her passions, and by decades of experience working to scale solutions.

Current Work

COMMUNITY IMPACT INVESTMENTS – Founder & Managing Partner

We are an impact-first fund that provides local leaders and social entrepreneurs with the capital and coaching to scale effective community-based solutions that address economic mobility. Their solutions. Their communities. Our support.

Community Impact Investments is designed and led by practitioners and solution leaders on the ground who have long been frustrated with an overreliance on national strategies that has overlooked community-based leadership, localized approaches, and innovation.

Community Impact Investments’ people-centered approach designs capital and coaching around community-based leaders and their solutions, providing catalytic funding and support that builds on their assets, responds to their needs, and helps them access new capital to deepen impact and scale.

Through our network and with a focus on ecosystem capacity, we curate a select portfolio of community-based solutions led by seasoned leaders who are already increasing economic opportunity for people in targeted cities.

Philadelphia, Charlotte, and New York are our initial targets, and are the home turfs of our research partners in the Partnership for Social and Economic Mobility. But for our support, these solutions would not have sufficient early capital to scale, and they would continue to be underappreciated as solid investments.

PARTNERSHIP FOR SOCIAL & ECONOMIC MOBILITY + Philadelphia Economic Equity Project - Project Advisor

The Partnership for Social & Economic Mobility is an inter-university collaborative focused on generating real-time, actionable research focused on social and economic mobility.

Convened and managed by the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice (SP2), the Partnership includes the University of Pennsylvania, Johnson C. Smith University, and Columbia University.

The Philadelphia-based research is being led by the Philadelphia Economic Equity Project at SP2, a newly formed initiative which is undertaking data collection in a way that reflects the priorities of community partners, local decision-makers, and researchers. This localized approach is responsive to the shifting nature of poverty and economic mobility, and the need for local responses to fight poverty and promote economic mobility. The approach builds on the foundational work of the Columbia University/Robin Hood Foundation Poverty Tracker survey.

UNTOLD STORIES & NEW NARRATIVES - Creative Collaborator & Storyteller

Untold Stories is an emerging collective of creatives, policy experts and social sector practitioners who believe that social and cultural transformation must be rooted in shared understandings of history and truth.

Working with Serqet Productions, a women-owned and led media production company, and others, Lisa is creating and elevating stories that are overlooked by traditional media but are critical to understanding diverse American experiences.

WINTHROP ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION - Senior Fellow for Rural Investment
Rural communities face particular challenges with respect to attracting and deploying a range of public and private sector capital to help build thriving communities. As an anchor institution in Arkansas and a leader in rural philanthropy, Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation has advanced an agenda focused on ensuring that all Arkansans are able to thrive economically and that the ecosystem of organizations in the state have the capacity to catalyze and sustain economic and social justice efforts.

The WRF Senior Fellowship for Rural Investment is designed to provide space for WRF and the Fellow to explore effective rural investment practices and improve understanding about reasonable investment strategies that will support the goals of WRF’s Equity 2025 plan.