This Week in ESG and Impact Investing

From the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/commentary-new-rule-could-help-ease-black-unemployment/2011/09/07/gIQA8XoqKK_story.html President Obama unveiled some ambitious ideas last week to create jobs, a plan that may have little chance of becoming reality any time soon given the $447 billion price tag and the current animus between the president and Congress. But about four weeks ago, Obama signed a little-publicized executive order that may go far in addressing a crisis exacerbated by the economic downturn: the rising unemployment rate and the diminishing wealth of African Americans. On Aug. 18, the White House issued an executive order “to promote the federal workplace as a model of equal opportunity, diversity and inclusion.” This follows on the heels of Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, which created offices to monitor and encourage efforts by federal financial agencies such as the Treasury Department ...

We created the chart at left showing black versus white unemployment in August, 2011. Black unemployment was reported at 16.7%, higher than the 16.2% rate reported in August 2010. Black unemployment was 15.5% in July, 2011. White unemployment fell to 8% in August from 8.1% in July, 2011. Further, white unemployment was 8.7% in August, 2010. I think this puts the recession into clear perspective. While some (the Tea Party in particular) have done a lot of whining, they are in no way, shape or form bearing the brunt of this recession.

The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release August 18, 2011 Executive Order--Establishing a Coordinated Government-wide Initiative to Promote Diversity and Inclusion in the Federal Workforce EXECUTIVE ORDER ESTABLISHING A COORDINATED GOVERNMENT-WIDE INITIATIVE TO PROMOTE DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to promote the Federal workplace as a model of equal opportunity, diversity, and inclusion, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Policy. Our Nation derives strength from the diversity of its population and from its commitment to equal opportunity for all. We are at our best when we draw on the talents of all parts of our society, and our greatest accomplishments are achieved when diverse perspectives are brought to bear to overcome our greatest challenges. A commitment to equal opportunity, diversity, and ...

Unfortunately, economics as a "science" has no answer for the questions we face now. As one person noted, "The power of a..theory may be measured as a ratio: the number of facts that it explains divided by the number and type of assumptions it needs to postulate in order to do the explaining. A theory that assumes most of what it is trying to explain is a bad theory." That is why most economic theory is bad theory.

We noted our attendance at one of the White House Community Leader Briefings: "This summer, the White House Office of Public Engagement is hosting Community Leaders Briefings. These events, held weekly at the White House, bring together leaders and activists from communities all across the country for an opportunity to discuss common challenges and learn how the government can help them as they work to improve their neighborhoods." To add to the impact of these events, today the President stopped by the meeting to discuss what his Administration is doing and why they have sponsored these meetings. See the video here:

Interview on DiversityInc.com website by Barbara Frankel on Jul 12, 2011 concerning our FOIA request: We submitted a FOIA to the Fed, a Freedom of Information Act request, a formal request of a federal government agency for information. We asked for information on "minority" business contracting. How much money did the Fed spend with women firms (WBEs), minority firms (MBEs) and others? We were really looking for information on their spending patterns or their support of minority-owned banks. We were basically trying to (expand and) complete the data set concerning their support for foreign banks, foreign corporations, domestic corporations..related to the financial crisis. What we found was that the Fed has not spent a lot of money with women- and minority-owned firms. In response to our Freedom of Information Act request, the Federal Reserve Board provided data on contract awards for the year 2010, broken out by ethnic and by gender designations. We found that, for example...

New Law Helps Minority and Women Contractors Land Big Deals. President Obama signs bill that gives our financial services firms a seat at the table. But is it enough? See: http://www.blackenterprise.com/2011/07/06/new-law-helps-minority-and-women-contractors-land-big-deals/