COACTION Fund

We have exciting news—the announcement of our first COACTION Fund grants.

Twin Cities LISC just awarded $820,000 in grants, the first year of competitive, multi-year, $3.3 million capacity-building COACTION Fund designed to support 15 high-impact, local community development initiatives.

COACTION grants are long-term investments in models and partnerships that connect physical improvements such as housing and commercial real estate development to greater economic opportunities for families such as getting a better job, owning a home, or starting a small business.

At the same time, these initiatives respond to important opportunities of the moment-helping rebuild neighborhoods devastated by foreclosures, creating jobs for neighborhood residents, and bringing transit-oriented development to scale along the next light rail line.

The COACTION Fund is made possible by the generous support of the McKnight Foundation, The Saint Paul Foundation, Bigelow Foundation and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and is part of Twin Cities LISC's continuing commitment to a more holistic approach to building sustainable communities. Along with the many other programs and funding opportunities we offer to nonprofit community developers, it will help us ensure that both places and people prosper.

The organizations supported through COACTION include:

• African Development Center of Minnesota
• American Indian Community Development Corporation
• Central Corridor Community Collaborators including:
• - Model Cities Community Development Corporation;
  
• - Aurora St. Anthony Neighborhood Development Corporation; and
• - Neighborhood Development Center
• City of Lakes Community Land Trust
  
• CommonBond Communities
  
• Dayton’s Bluff Neighborhood Housing Service
  
• Emerge Community Development
  
• Goodwill Easter Seals Minnesota/Twin Cities Housing Development Corporation
  
• Greater Frogtown Community Development Corporation
  
• Hope Community, Inc.
  
• Juxtaposition Arts
  
• Plymouth Church Neighborhood Foundation
  
• Project for Pride in Living
  
• Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, Inc.
  
• Urban Homeworks

Over the next several months, we'll share COACTION grantee progress stories on our website and with the media in the belief that these models are both instructive and inspirational, elevating best practices among a robust local community development industry. To understand how the work of our COACTION grantees improves the lives of neighborhood residents, read our collections of Real Stories.

A copy of the program description and request for proposals used, along with eligibility and selection criteria are posted here.