This Week in ESG and Impact Investing

On Friday, February 25th, we attended the White House Policy Briefing on Jobs and the Economic Future in Communities of Color sponsored by Michael Blake in the Office of Public Engagement. The meeting was held at the Eisenhower Building. Speaking were: 1. Don Graves, Jr., Community Development and Housing Policy, Treasury. Mr. Graves discussed the Small Business Lending Fund and noted that 300 banks have applied for funding. Mr Graves is also Executive Director, Presidents's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, which held it's first meeting on Thursday. 2. Michael Strautmanis , Senior Advisor to Valerie Jarrett. 3. Marie Johns, Deputy Administrator, SBA. Ms. Johns described plans for the Impact Fund : "SBA will commit $1 billion to those funds that invest growth capital in companies located in underserved communities. This includes investing in economically distressed areas, as well as those companies in emerging sectors such as clean energy. SBA will provide up to a 2:1...

Rolling Stone Magazine notes: "Not a single executive who ran the companies that cooked up and cashed in on the phony financial boom — companies like AIG, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley — has ever been convicted. Most of these firms were directly involved in elaborate fraud and theft. Lehman Brothers hid billions in loans from its investors. Bank of America lied about billions in bonuses. Goldman Sachs failed to tell clients how it put together the born-to-lose toxic mortgage deals it was selling. What's more, many of these companies had corporate chieftains whose actions cost investors billions — from AIG derivatives chief Joe Cassano, who assured investors they would not lose even 'one dollar' just months before his unit imploded, to the $263 million in compensation that former Lehman chief Dick "The Gorilla" Fuld conveniently failed to disclose. Yet not one of them has faced time behind bars." A few...

"A long standing bank in North Tulsa is no more. Many say the closing of American State Bank is an end of an era. Leroy Thomas had a front row seat to a moment that was truly ground breaking. "We were very excited. "It was quite the momentous occasion," Thomas told News Channel 8. He founded American State Bank in 1970. A crowd gathered to witness it's rebirth in it's new home on 38th North Peoria just seven years after it was founded. "It was a source of pride. There was no other institution in the state, financial institution controlled by blacks that in itself was an achievement we thought". Thomas says he sold his interest in the bank in the 90s, but the bank still operated in the place he built. Until this week, it was still the only remaining black owned financial institution in Tulsa. Now a notice on the front door is directing customers to People's bank. Edna Brooks worked at American State Bank for 15 years. She retired a few...

Opal Financial Group's first annual Investment Consultants Forum Europe will address issues that are most critical to the investment success of senior pension and endowment fund officers, and trustees. The Forum will cover how surplus returns should affect employee benefit plans, the processes for selection and evaluation of investment managers, legal concerns with fund investment and management policies as well as the benefits and pitfalls of a wide variety of investment strategies. Date: April 1, 2011 Location: Waldorf Hilton, London, UK Link: http://www.opalgroup.net/trk/icfe1112.html

Learn more about new business and professional opportunities that may become available in 29 federal financial agencies like the nine (9) Federal Reserve Banks, the FDIC, etc. O n January 22nd, each of the affected federal financial agencies established new offices devoted to ensuring minorities and women businesses are included in contracting opportunities. Moreover, these offices are still staffing up; therefore, professional opportunities also exist. The Dodd-Frank legislation that became law in the summer of 2010 include these provisions. Attend the Thursday, February 17th Chicago Booth Black Alumni Association's evening program event in Washington, DC to learn more! Dodd-Frank Provisions for Minority and Women Business & Professional Opportunities Feb 17, 2011 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM

On January 21st, federal financial agencies established new offices devoted to ensuring minorities and women businesses are included in contracting opportunities . Moreover, these offices are still staffing up; therefore, professional opportunities also exist. The Dodd -Frank legislation that became law in the summer of 2010 include these provisions. Attend the Wednesday, January 26 th Chicago Booth Black Alumni Association's evening program event in Washington, DC to learn more! Date: Wednesday, January 26, 2011 from 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) Location: University of Chicago's Office 1730 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. Suite 275 Washington DC Click here.

According to the Fed, "The Federal Reserve on Tuesday announced the establishment of offices to promote diversity and inclusion at the Federal Reserve Board and at all 12 of the Federal Reserve Banks. The offices will build on the Federal Reserve System’s long-standing efforts to promote equal employment opportunity and diversity, and will continue to work to foster diversity in procurement, with a focus on minority-owned and women-owned businesses. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act required that diversity and inclusion offices be established at certain federal agencies, including the Federal Reserve Board, and at the Federal Reserve Banks. In addition to promoting diversity at the Board and throughout the System, the Board’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion will play an integral role in the development of standards to assess the diversity practices at entities regulated by the Federal Reserve as required by the Dodd-Frank Act. The heads of the diversi...