LAWRENCE COMMUNITYWORKS INC
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Mission Statement
Lawrence CommunityWorks (LCW), a community development corporation founded in 1986, weaves together community planning, organizing, and asset-building efforts with high-quality affordable housing and commercial development to create vibrant neighborhoods and empowered residents. By facilitating conversations and action on community priorities, LCW engages partners and a network of youth and adult residents in opportunities to move themselves and the city of Lawrence forward.
About This Cause
We focus our work in four key areas: ♦ Asset Building provides stimulating, applied learning opportunities—in job skills training and adult education (including ESOL), financial literacy, savings, homeownership, and other areas—to grow the local asset base and promote economic advancement and family stability for Lawrence’s low-income immigrant families. We have helped families save over $500,000 and leverage over $6.6 million in asset purchases (such as a home, business, or investment in higher education) through our Individual Development Account program, and educated over 500 first-time homebuyers who have invested over $90 million in the community through home purchases. ♦ Real Estate Development manages all aspects of LCW’s physical revitalization efforts, including property acquisition, resident-led design processes, and development of affordable homeownership, rental housing, green space creation, and expansion of community facilities. Through our real estate work, we have developed 4+ acres of formerly blighted and vacant land into green space, created or rehabilitated over 160 units of affordable housing, and halved the vacancy/abandonment rate in the North Common area. ♦ Movement City offers a variety of creative, academic, entrepreneurial, leadership development, and civic engagement activities to youth ages 10 to 18. The goal of Movement City is to empower our youth here in Lawrence to explore their creative potential, gain job skills and develop dynamic portfolios for college and career. ♦ Network Organizing focuses on increasing membership, connecting people to each other and LCW programs, and building resident leadership and civic engagement skills. More than 1,000 residents have created social networks through our NeighborCircles organizing work, building the social and political capital necessary to effect changes on the day-to-day issues that affect the quality of life in the city. Lawrence CommunityWorks, Inc. was first formed to help the North Common Neighborhood, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Lawrence, MA. However, in the last fifteen years LCW’s reach has spread far beyond this one neighborhood. We have built affordable housing developments across the city and our program participants – adults and youth - come from every neighborhood in Lawrence and beyond. We work out of two locations in Lawrence – one in the North Common, at our main campus located at 168 Newbury Street, and now the Lawrence Financial Stability Center located at our mill redevelopment project Union Crossing at 50 Island Street along the Merrimack River. LCW has also become one of the major forces for equitable development and economic justice in Lawrence. LCW has received many awards for our revitalization efforts, including 2014 Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) Partners in Transportation Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration Community Service Award, the 2013 National Community Development Association Audrey Nelson Community Development Achievement Award, the 2013, 2011, 2010, 2009, and 2008 TD Bank Housing for Everyone Awards, the 2009 Citizens Bank Financial Literacy Champions in Action Award, the 2009 LISC-MetLife Foundation Community-Police Partnership 1st Place Award in Neighborhood Revitalization, and the 2008 Jim and Patty Rouse Award for Excellence in Community Revitalization.