Lawrence CommunityWorks, Inc. (LCW) is a community development corporation founded in 1986 that 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.

External Vision: The way we want Lawrence to be in the future

By 2030, Lawrence will be widely known as a vibrant and safe city of promise and opportunity – a great place to live, learn, work and play. The Lawrence of the future has a robust physical landscape marked by a healthy mix of housing options, vital commercial development and attractive open spaces. A variety of responsible companies and organizations call Lawrence home and offer good-paying job opportunities for residents. Community members – adults and youth – have the leadership and capacities to build their own assets, educational skills and financial success, and to co-invest in a stronger community.

Lawrence will be recognized for heightened citizen engagement where residents of all ages are engaged in a dynamic and growing network, and share in a sense of ownership and pride. Through collective action and diverse partnerships, public and private institutions will become even more effective and responsive, neighborhoods will be revitalized, and all of Lawrence will benefit from increased economic vitality and civic opportunities.