Activest currently oversees investment research and trading for the Fiscal Justice Investment Strategy. This is a fixed income portfolio that invests capital directly into Black communities to fund sustainable, long-term economic opportunity. More information can be found here:

Fiscal Justice Strategy Overview
1-page document summarizing the impact and strategy of the offering

Fiscal Justice Investment Case
A detailed outline of the strategy, including the case for investors and more about our teams

Fiscal justice is built on transparency and disclosure. In 2020, as financial institutions pledged to remove barriers for more people of color to access banking services, we worked with SOC Investment Group to develop shareholder proposals for major banking institutions such as Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo. The proposals’ demands tested the extent of these pledges and, in some cases, bear out the long-term reputational risks and potential financial risks of allowing racial injustice to go unaddressed. Our request was for these systemically important financial institutions to conduct Racial Equity Audits to identify, prioritize, and remedy the adverse impacts of the bank’s policies and practices on communities of color. 

Fiscal justice is change that can be affected not just by investors but also municipalities themselves. We advise local governments on how to budget for equity in areas from economic development to infrastructure spending. Our framework of accounting and budgeting for equity aims to illuminate how optimal and equitable fiscal outcomes can be produced.

In 2020, as communities of color were hardest hit by the pandemic, Activest served as equity advisor for Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Fiscal Health and Equity Initiative —providing expert insights and peer-to-peer learning as mayors and city financial leaders navigate complicated and critical fiscal decisions and implement new and equity-centered interventions to help them recover financially from COVID-19.

See how Activest supported municipalities in Massachusetts, here.