Racial Equity

How your investments can play a role in promoting racial equity.

We’ve always believed that investors must take responsibility for the impact their money has on the world. Beginning with our anti-Apartheid stance, we have addressed racial issues in our investment choices for many years.

First Affirmative looks first for corporations that pursue equity for their own employees and communities. We enable clients to exclude companies from their portfolios that reinforce racist systems.

Banks and other financiers that invest in Community Development Financial Institutions attract our support. Racial inequity often begins at the community level, and that’s where solutions can take root.

Shareholder initiatives are a powerful tool in fighting for justice. Divestment in the apartheid era helped force great change in southern Africa. First Affirmative builds alliances for equity campaigns drawing on collective shareholder action.

How America incarcerates and detains prisoners, and in what conditions, can reinforce and perpetuate racial inequity.

Our research at First Affirmative reflects the fact that for-profit prison companies and America’s culture of incarceration are rife with dangers for socially responsible investors. We strive for transparency that gives you choices.

Too many companies make money through the human misery of immigration detention. First Affirmative evaluates companies to determine whether they participate in these unjust systems and can help you exclude them from your values-aligned investing portfolios.