This Week in ESG and Impact Investing

Analysis of January 2025 Producer Price Index (PPI) by Geography and Industry for Black, Asian, Hispanic, and Women-Owned Businesses The January 2025 Producer Price Index (PPI) shows a 0.4% increase in final demand , following a 0.5% rise in December 2024. The 12-month increase reached 3.5% , reinforcing continued inflationary pressures on businesses. This analysis examines the implications of this data across industries and geographic regions for Black, Asian, Hispanic, and women-owned businesses . 1. Industry-Specific Impacts Retail and Wholesale Trade Final demand trade services increased by 0.1% in January . Margins for food and alcohol retailing and apparel retailing rose, affecting minority businesses in these industries. Apparel, jewelry, and accessories retailing saw price increases , which could disproportionately impact Black and Hispanic business owners who are overrepresented in this sector. Implications: Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs in retail may need to adjust pric...

DC's Revealed Black Economic Development "Plan"  https://youtu.be/rlr_DomOais DC has the highest rate of HIV infection, the highest Black/White income disparity and the most rapid gentrification in the United States. These facts are not unrelated. Together, they point to the true economic development policy, at least for Black people, in the city. My analysis and experience, described in detail below, supports this contention. Since 2005, we have been managing an effort to bring  crowdfunding  to  small businesses  in DC. My firm was  selected  to develop a crowdfunding program for the District's Great Streets Program. The effort we undertook was initially funded at $85,000, was reduced to $25,000 and further reduced to $20,000. DC has actually paid a fraction of this amount. Despite this, we moved ahead. At DC's Historic Metropolitan AME Church, we  worked with four innovators  to launch crowdfunding projects  in support of the...

We note with interest the designation of Urban Partnership Bank as a Minority Depository Institution. According to Crain’s Chicago Business, “The $1 billion-asset bank based on Chicago's South Side (formerly South Shore Bank) is officially a minority lender despite an ownership dominated by Wall Street giants like Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.” ( http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20130611/NEWS01/130619972/wall-street-owned-urban-partnership-bank-officially-a-minority-bank ) A Minority Depository Institution, as defined by Section 308 of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 ("FIRREA"), used to be a bank in which 51% or more of the common stock was owned by one or more members of the following groups: Black American, Asian American, Hispanic American, or Native American . The threshold now for MDI designation is a bank that meets one or more of the following standards: 1.     ...