The nonprofit organization says the $10,000 will be used for affordable housing projects.

01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, August 11, 2005

BY ELIZABETH GUDRAIS
Journal Staff Writer

The Rhode Island office of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, a national nonprofit organization that supports affordable housing, has received a $10,000 grant from Bank Rhode Island.

"The lack of affordable housing is a serious issue for Rhode Island," Peter Walsh, Bank Rhode Island's senior vice president for retail lending and community relations and a Local Initiatives board member, said in a news release announcing the grant.

The grant hasn't been earmarked for any specific project, but "allows us to invest in more families so they can share in the dream of owning their own home and having a safe and affordable place to live," Barbara Fields, director of Local Initiatives Support Corporation's Rhode Island office, said.

The nonprofit organization, based in New York and chaired by Robert E. Rubin, treasury secretary under President Clinton, celebrates its 25th anniversary with an event in Washington next month. In the Rhode Island office's 14 years of existence, it has invested $130 million in affordable housing, commercial and community space, and childcare facilities through grants, loans and equity investments.

The organization matches community-based nonprofit groups with financial resources and provides technical assistance. "Our goal is to make sure these community nonprofits are operating like well-run small businesses," Fields said.

Current projects include partnerships with the Woonsocket Neighborhood Development Corporation to construct a 40-unit rental development with 12,000 square feet of commercial space on Front Street, 26 units of owner-occupied affordable housing on the Woonsocket/North Smithfield line, and an 80-unit development of housing for the elderly in Smithfield.

Through a partnership with Stop Wasting Abandoned Property (SWAP), Local Initiatives is also a chief supporter of the revitalization of Potters Avenue in South Providence. A $10-million project includes 37 rental units and 21 single-family homes.

"We are putting neighborhoods back together and developing work-force housing," Carla DeStefano, executive director of SWAP, said. "The residents are nurses, police officers and firefighters."