The Latest on Living Cities

A Unique Partnership

Living Cities is an extraordinary philanthropic, corporate and public sector partnership established to bring opportunities and the power of mainstream markets to urban neighborhoods and residents historically left behind.  

Innovation

Living Cities has been a pioneering organization from the outset, an experiment in collaboration among the for-profit, public and non-profit sectors.  We support bold, promising approaches that take advantage of the city’s unique role as America’s engine for economic prosperity and that have the potential to transform the lives of low-income people and the communities in which they live.    

Investment

Living Cities aggregates and deploys resources through loans, grants, equity, guarantees and other financial mechanisms that help steer market forces to the people and places we care about.  Over fifteen years, we have invested more than $543 million in 23 cities.  Our funding has helped build homes, stores, schools, daycare, healthcare, job training centers and other community assets that exceed $15.9 billion --- a remarkable leverage ratio of 29:1. 

Leadership

The leaders of Living Cities are the chief executive officers and senior management of America’s premier philanthropic, corporate and public sector organizations.  Annually, this unprecedented group comes together to challenge each other, address issues, measure success, and make investment decisions.  They also set an ambitious policy agenda.  Living Cities promotes policies at the local, state and national level that help align private and public resources to support the scaling and sustainability of successful approaches to making our cities work for all.