Social Justice Archives - Page 3 of 6 - American Sustainable Business Network

21October 2022

Exploring Employee Ownership: Why Business Owners Choose it and what it Could Offer Your Company

In honor of Employee Ownership month, theASBN Transforming Business Ownershipworking groupis pleased to present this special panel. Speakers will include leaders of employee-owned businesses who can share different perspectives on the value of employee ownership and how it contributes to their company’s success, whether through employee engagement and retention, succession planning and ownership transitions, or just another way to express the company’s commitment to sustainability. Panelists will address different scenarios through which businesses can transition to employee ownership.

Moderator:Derek Peebles| ASBN Director of Inclusive Economy

Panelists:

Tommy Smith | [] Kaiser Permanente | Impact Spending | Manager-Economic Impact

Tommy Smith leads the economic impact strategy for Kaiser Permanente’s procurement spend. Tommy helps KP leverage its buying power to support economic development as a means of improving community health. Tommy serves as the main contact point with business units in developing strategies and programs to promote local impact purchasing and capacity building for businesses in KP’s supply chain and in KP’s communities. Tommy holds a BA in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He is a veteran of the United States Navy’s Submarine Service. Prior to his role with Impact Spending, Tommy conducted policy analysis and program evaluation in civic engagement, economic development, education, supplier diversity and workforce training. He is a husband and father of two who in his scant free time enjoys reading, hiking, and camping.

Kevin Koch |Technicians For Sustainability| Co-Founder

â€‹Kevin is the co-founder of Technicians For Sustainability, a solar design build firm, since 2003. He guided the company to a worker cooperative transition in 2017, and has continued to serve as CEO.Kevin has been advocating for adoption of renewable energy in Southern Arizona for over two decades. Through his engagement with sustainability, he has worked to increase access to and trust in solar energy while structuring the company at the intersection of idealism and practicality.

Rachel Battles |Happy Earth Cleaning Co-op| General Manager

Rachel Battles is the General Manager and a Founding Member ofHappy Earth Cleaning Co-op, Minneapolis’s first worker-owned cleaning company! She played an active role in Happy Earth’s transition from an LLC to a worker cooperative. Through the process, she leveled up from being just a cleaning employee to being a business owner, and successfully managed the co-op through the turbulence of a global pandemic. She is super pumped to share her experiences and knowledge of the co-op realm with other folks who are curious about employee ownership! Her passion for helping people and making the world a more loving, equitable, and peaceful place is what drives her to make Happy Earth the best workplace it can be.

There will be an opportunity to join each of the panelists in break out rooms with Employee Ownership experts:

Ellen Vera | Co-op Cincy
Hilary Abell | Project Equity
Kristen Barker | Co-op Cincy

And Transforming Business Ownership Project Members

Babbie Jacobs | Dave O’Leary | Derek Peebles | Eric Leenson

[] REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT HERE

[] In Depth Conversations with Employee Ownership ExpertsFollow-Up meeting â€“ October 28th | 1:00 â€“ 2:00pm ET

FeaturingCorey Rosen(NCEO),Hilary Abell(Project Equity),Jack Moriarity([] Ownership America),Karen Kahn(The Democracy Collaborative),Kristen Barker(Co-op Cincy),Matt Kruetz(Firebrand Artisan Breads), Ra Criscitiello([] SEIU-UHW West )

[] REGISTER TODAY!

These events are co-sponsored by EO Equals, a campaign that aims to expand the employee ownership movement. Employee ownership helps more small businesses thrive, empowers workers with higher quality jobs, and builds more equitable communities. Visitemployeeownershipequals.org/for more information.

Circular Economy, Renewable Energy, Social Justice

06October 2022

Member Event Dismantling Racism & Inequality Faith Based Community Investing Series Part 1

This series builds on the presentation given by the Unitarian Universalist Community last August in which over 150 registered. The event was the first step to educating and activating faith-based organizations, foundations, and individuals about Community Investing, CDFIs, Community Land Trusts, and other Main Street Lending options to fight racism and oppression.

The first convening of the series, â€œIntroduction to Faith-Based Community Investing,â€ will feature dynamic speakers, clergy and congregations to introduce the Faith-Based Community Investing movement, including case studies from different faith communities. In addition, we will provide an overview of the opportunities and how best to take advantage of them based on the unique perspectives and values of the attendees.

October 6th Panelists:

John Harris / speaking from an Episcopal perspective
Andrew Schneiderman / Impact Investing at the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund
Vanessa Lowe / UUA’s Investment Committee + UUCEF
Sarah Smith / Mercy Investment Services

We are organizing this series under the theme of Beloved Community. Beloved Community happens when people of diverse racial, ethnic, educational, class, gender, abilities, sexual orientation backgrounds/identities come together in an interdependent relationship of love, mutual respect, and care that seeks to realize justice within the community and in the broader world. We believe developing relationships with and investing in local economies that serve under resourced communities is an action that can help to dismantle racism accountably and other oppressions in ourselves, institutions and the economy.

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called for the creation of a â€œBeloved Communityâ€ in his last book, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? Written shortly before his assassination in 1968. He wrote: â€œThe goal toward which we must strive is the creation of the beloved community.â€ This will require a qualitative change in our souls and a quantitative change in our lives. The first stage of the process will be marked by a profound and honest concern for others and opening ourselves to receive them. This requires us to develop a new kind of empathy based on shared commitment which enables us to see the world from the standpoint of the other.

Join us for these critical conversations and interfaith collaboration! It is time to align our money with our faith, values and principles to achieve Beloved Community.

[] REGISTER TODAY!

Speaker Bios

John E. Harris Jr, CFP

My wife Alice and I moved to Virginia Beach in 2004. She from Grand Rapids, The Diocese of Western Michigan and I from Cincinnati the Diocese of Southern Ohio.

For me it was to retire on the beach and for Alice to avoid those cold Michigan winters and to advance her Nursing career. For both of us, to continue our work in the Epicopal Church as members and leadership roles in the Union of Black Episcopalians, General Convention, and other Interim Bodies of the Executive Council.

My favorite activity at All Saints is the Early Sunday participation in the Adult Study Forum.

I consider myself an active Lay Professional in the Church having served as past Treasurer of the Diocese of Southern Ohio and the CREDO Faculty of the Church Pension Group. I currently serve as an Advisor to the Finance and Investment committees and a member of the Oversite Committee of the Episcopal Church Foundation in New York as well as a member of the Finance Committee of the Diocese of Southern Ohio.

John is the Managing Partner of LifePlan Partners an Interdisciplinary Network of Professional Advisors an Aggregators of Resources dedicated to helping people experience a Life of Significance and Wellbeing.

Andrew Schneiderman
Director, Impact Investing at the San FranciscoJewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund

Over 10 years of experience in investment management, business development, and public-private partnerships
Board Treasurer for Kristin Damrow & Company, a Bay Area modern dance company
B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis; M.B.A from University of Southern California
â€œBringing new tools to our donors’ philanthropic toolkit motivates me every day. My entrepreneurial journey inspires me to create pathways to provide fair and affordable credit to underbanked communities locally and nationally.â€

Vanessa Lowe

Vanessa Lowe has been an economic justice advocate and activist for more than 30
years. Ms. Lowe spent 21 years in federal service supporting access to capital for underserved
communities.Ms. Lowe hosts Vanessa’s Money Hour, a weekly talk show on Philadelphia’s G-town
Radio. She has a B.S. in Education from Temple University and an MBA from the
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She’s a recognized resource and
national speaker on faith-based impact investing, with a focus on reparations and racial
justice. She’s currently pursuing the Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFCÂ©)
certification.

Sarah Smith

Sarah B. Smith is the Director of Mercy Partnership Fund, the global community investing
program of Mercy Investment Services, the socially responsible asset management program for
the Sisters of Mercy and its ministries. Smith oversees a portfolio that includes below-market
rate investments to more than 60 mission-driven organizations working around the globe on
projects that provide high social and environmental impact.
Sarah has spent more than 30 years working in the community development field as a
community organizer, affordable housing developer, program administrator, strategic planner,
and impact fund manager. She holds a bachelor’;s degree in political science from Boston
College, a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from George Washington University,
and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Missouri â€“ St. Louis.

Current Partners:

ASBN/American Sustainable Business Network [RELINK LOCAL]

Calvert Impact Capital

[] Faith on Mainstreet

First Universalist Church of Denver and Together Colorado.

[] Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund

[] JLens

[] Mercy Partnership Fund

[] Neighborhood Economics

Quaker National

Together Colorado

Unitarian Universalist Association | UUA.org

Unitarian Universalist Common Endowment Fund

UUA’s Investment Committee + UUCEF

Climate Action, Impact Investing, Social Justice

09September 2022

ASBN Live A Dialogue on the Opportunity to Advance Land and Ocean Conservation and a Sustainable Economy

The American Sustainable Business Network (ASBN) and Businesses for Conservation and Climate Action (BCCA) invite you to join us for a dialogue with the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Wizipan Garriott, other administration leadership and Indigenous business leaders on the opportunity to advance land and ocean conservation and a sustainable economy.

The Department of the Interior has a solemn obligation to protect America’s lands, waters and ecosystems for future generations, and is taking bold initiatives including the America the Beautiful Initiative to meet that goal.

Co-stewardship represents the best of land conservation and enables local communities to conserve areas of tremendous cultural and economic importance. Conservation can drive economic output through the long-term protection of resources.

Carrying out this work in collaboration with Tribes will help fulfill this obligation. Since time immemorial, tribes have developed land and water stewardship practices across many diverse ecosystems on this continent. These practices are based on traditional ecological knowledge that has been accumulated over countless generations through observation and analysis. These practices were also focused on ensuring that ecosystems remained healthy and resilient for generations into the future.

Now is the time for a public-private partnership for ambitious action to protect our land and oceans to build a strong and sustainable economy.

[] REGISTER HERE

Businesses for Conservation & Climate Action’s mission is to establish national, regional, and state policies that recognize sustainable, BIPOC and community- based businesses as compatible with healthy lands and oceans, and to enhance rather than exclude these sustainable businesses from conversations about resource access at every step of the decision-making process. Our work is guided by a firm commitment to social equity, local and traditional wisdom, and triple bottom line solutions that restore social, ecological and economic health.

Archived, Clean Water, Climate Action, Social Justice

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