Spring 2007 - Milton Academy

In Washington, Jennie concentrateson LISC’s strategic directionOver its 25-year history, LISC has opened32 offices in cities across the country. Atits national center in Washington, D.C.,Jennie Bartlett ’00 focuses on the broadorganizational view of this communitydevelopment corporation.“For the last two and a half years my workhas involved supporting and strengtheningour local offices,” Jennie explains, “whichincludes brokering partnerships, workingwith them on developing their programplans, and managing internal processes tofacilitate an efficient and fluid relationshipbetween local operations and nationaloversight.”During her senior year at Trinity College(Hartford, Connecticut)—where shedesigned a major in international urbanstudies with a minor in architecture—Jennie took a community organizing class,through which she discovered LISC. Shewas drawn to the organization’s missionand its work in Hartford on homeownershipand community development.Working with LISC as an intern, shefocused her senior thesis on measuringthe impact of homeownership on the revitalizationof two Hartford neighborhoods.After graduation, she stayed with LISC atthe national level.Since 2005, Jennie has worked at a corporate-widestrategic plan. “Assessing the historyof the company over its 25 years ofexistence—determining what’s still relevant,how the environment has changed,how to add more value—has been anincredible experience,” she says. LISC’sinternal committee began with big questions:Can we achieve something locally wheneconomic forces are increasingly regional,national and international? Can communitydevelopment corporations (CDCs) accomplishsomething significant enough to affect thefundamentals of local life?The metrics of success (noted at the startof this article) measure the organization’ssuccess. “We saw how far we’d come, butwe needed to address whether we couldsustain a lasting impact, rather than justinjecting short-term support,” Jennie says.“We found that we can achieve a lastingimpact, but the question remains, ‘How dowe know these benefits will continue togrow?’”20 Milton Magazine