This Week in ESG and Impact Investing

According to the Boston Herald , "Scandal-plagued Hub bank OneUnited has begun foreclosure proceedings against Roxbury’s historic Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of Boston’s oldest and most-respected black churches, the Herald has learned. OneUnited, the nation’s largest black-owned bank — which got millions in federal bailout money — is threatening to auction off the church March 22 to cover a $1.1 million 'balloon' mortgage that recently came due. Founded in 1818, the Charles Street AME Church was a key player in the 19th century anti-slavery movement. Abolitionists including Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison led rallies at the congregation’s original Beacon Hill home, while the church helped runaway slaves reach Canada." The church "has never missed a payment on its five-year-old mortgage." OneUnited has had a series of problems recently. The bank has few urban loans, yet OneUnited sought aid as community '...

According to Politic365 , "Officials from the Commerce Department briefed members of Congress..to inform them that the Obama Administration plans to close all five regional Offices of the Minority Business Development Agency. According to members at the briefing the reason given was cost savings. The Office of Minority Business Development has a total budget of $30 million dollars. The five regional offices are located in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The Office of Minority Business Development‘s mission is to promote competitiveness and provide access to capital and contracts to minority businesses. In 1969 Richard Nixon established the Office of Minority Business Enterprise by executive order. During the Carter Administration the name was changed to the Office of Minority Business Development. Present at the meeting with Commerce officials were Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Charlie Gonzalez (D-TX), Congressional Asian Pacific American...

Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act contains a provision creating an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI) at various agencies to monitor the diversity efforts of the agencies, the regulated entities and agency contractors. In a new report on workforce diversity at the 20 federal financial regulatory agencies subject to Dodd/Frank Section 342 (OMWI), a West Coast based NGO, the Greenlining Coalition, notes that "there is considerable variation amongst the financial regulatory agencies in workforce diversity. Our tiered analysis illustrates that some agencies have strong diversity records, while others still have considerable room for improvement." Greenlining appears to be working from our ratings of OMWI Offices , released in September, 2011. We agree with their assessment and are glad that they have validated the work we did six months ago..... The Report goes on to note that "..some agencies have been more successful th...

According to a recent news release, "A coalition of institutional investors from around the globe today released a list of financial market reform priorities that they believe are necessary to protect shareowner rights and bolster investor confidence. The 14 pension funds and plan sponsors representing $1.6 trillion in assets called on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to complete what they called 'unfinished business' in the wake of the financial crisis. The list of financial market reform priorities – entitled An Investor’s Framework for the Future: Financial Market Reform Priorities for the SEC – outlines six initiatives that the SEC should complete, including: Appoint the Investor Advisory Committee to provide the Commission with investors’ perspectives on regulatory issues; appoint the Investor Advocate to champion investor rights. Renew rulemaking for universal proxy access so that investors can propose directors for boards on a level playing field with man...