This Week in ESG and Impact Investing

In a stunning development, Carver Federal today revealed they have raised $55 million in new equity capital. This amount exceeds, by almost three times, "regulatory capital requirements set by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS)." According to the bank, investors include: The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., $15 million. Morgan Stanley, $15 million. Citigroup Inc., $10 million. The Prudential Insurance Company of America, $10 million. American Express Company, $2 million. First Republic Bank, $2 million. National Community Investment Fund, $1 million. Prudential and American Express (full disclosure: former clients) have a 20 year track record of making these types of investments. National Community Investment Fund is a Creative Investment clone, and a bad one at that (we started seven years before they did.) Which brings us to Goldman, who today "notified the New York State Department of Labor that the investment bank (might) lay off 230 employees." We'll see if t...

We attended a conference titled "Diversity in Financial Services: The Impact of Dodd-Frank" held from June 22-24, 2011 at the Westin Arlington Gateway, Arlington, VA. We opened the conference by speaking on a panel covering Dodd/Frank Section 342. Moderating the panel was Mikail Moore, Chief of Staff, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, US House of Representatives. Other panelists were Darlene R. Slaughter, Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer, Fannie Mae and Leslie R. Crawford, Deputy Director, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The speaker at General Session IV was Beryl Satter, author of Family Properties: Race, Real Estate, and the Exploitation of Black Urban America . She discussed the current state of the mortgage markets and placed recent history in context. Her book is perhaps the best exploration of race and the urban real estate market. This is a rare and powerful book which combines socioeconomic trends, the history of the civil rights movement ...

We were fortunate to be invited to today's Community Leaders Briefing at the White House. I found the event informative. We got a chance to hear from top Administration officials. Among those addressing the meeting were Carl Shapiro, Member, Council of Economic Advisers, Greg Nelson, Deputy Director, White House Office of Public Engagement, Michael Blake, Associate Director, White House Office of Public Engagement, Stephanie Cutter, Assistant to the President and Deputy Senior Adviser, and William Daley, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff. Mr. Shapiro described the Administrations' current economic viewpoint and forecast. He cited the deficit, the crisis in Greece and oil prices as challenges. Administration economists are focused on staying engaged and optimistic. They also described several initiatives and facts: the world's largest photovoltaic plant and the world's largest wind farm are both in the US. (I thought they were in China.) Mr. Daley spoke about...

We attended the Technology Commercialization Showcase for Women & Minorities this morning, June 8, 2011, at the University of Maryland, College Park. The event was sponsored by IWIF: "IWIF Workers’ Compensation Insurance has specialized in providing workers’ compensation insurance to Maryland businesses since 1914." IWIF opened the Showcase with a brief introduction about itself and its core business. Dr. Robert L. Wallace delivered a 30-minute lecture on utilizing strategic partnerships for commercialization success in technology and outlined 12 steps to building a good partnership: 1. Building trust 2. Get your "mogo" working ( mogo means: mission, objectives, goals, opportunity); 3. Maximize client pain IQ; 4. Know thyself ( limitation, strength and value); 5. Know thy partner; 6. 360 review; 7. Embracing the boulder; 8. Determine the alpha project; 9. Remaining independent; 10. Embracing the porcupine; 11. Joint venture continuum; 12. Transition strategies....

From the Washington Post: "This may be the best time in recent memory to be a minority- or woman-owned contractor seeking to do business with the federal government." (Actually, I think I would dial that back a little. With concern over government spending growing, it looks like women and minority firms may be getting to the party just as the food and beverages are running out...unless they are defense contractors.) "A recent article in Capital Business [“ Federal Reserve Bank seeks diversity in contractor pool ,” May 16] discussed efforts by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond to increase contracting with women- and minority-owned firms. This effort is far broader and more significant than the article indicated, however. Section 342 of the recently enacted Dodd-Frank Act requires nearly 30 agencies that oversee the financial system, including the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., to establish offices of minority and wom...