The Important Role of Men in Women’s Economic Empowerment

Posted on May 3, 2012 by patrick

By Carrie Hutchison – Manager, Marketing and Communication at Calvert Foundation, twitter: @carriehutchi

I’ve spent the past four months immersed in launching Calvert Foundation’s new Women INvesting in Women INitiative (WIN-WIN). Which means I’ve spent the last four months talking, writing, tweeting, and learning about women. And while I will never tire of women, I’m just going to stop talking about them for a minute to say this: I think men are pretty great, too. And I know they are critical to this whole women’s empowerment thing.

I have had the benefit of being raised by a father who is a self-described feminist. Someone who encouraged my sister and me in all we did, whether it was breaking the 3-point shooting record in high school basketball or starring in school plays. (I’ll let those who know me tell you which one is more dramatic, me or my sis.) He did the same for the thousands of students he taught and coached and mentored over his 35 years of teaching at a public high school. He is also – like 49 percent of the U.S. population – a guy. And it helps to have more than just the 51 percent of the population that are women working to change a culture that currently allows stats like these to continue:

- On average, women are paid 77 cents for every dollar men are paid for doing the same job. (Institute for Women’s Policy Research)

- While women are founding businesses at 1.5 times the national average, only 3-5% of all women-owned businesses receive venture capital funding.

This isn’t just an issue here in the States. As Melanne Verveer, the U.S. State Department’s ambassador at large for global women’s issues, wrote in Foreign Policy recently, women are a global economic issue:

“It’s no coincidence that those countries that deny women basic human rights are some of the poorest and least stable. According to the World Economic Forum, countries where men and women are closer to enjoying equal rights are far more economically competitive than those where the gender gap has left women and girls with limited or no access to medical care, education, elected office, and the marketplace.”

The day after we launched WIN-WIN in New York, I had the privilege of attending The Daily Beast/Newsweek’s Women in the World Summit, a three-day event telling the stories and challenges women face in different political, economic, cultural, and geographic settings. Some of the stories were gruesome (forced prostitution in Central America), some frustrating (women who fought for change during the Arab Spring movement are now being shut out of leadership positions), and some inspiring (the young entrepreneurs of sOccketball bring light to villages lacking power in Nigeria).

But some of my favorite speakers there were men (such as actor Gael García Bernal, who is working on a documentary about the issue of forced prostitution in Mexico). And as I looked around at the audience, I wished I saw more men.

As leaders, fathers, husbands, brothers, sons, friends, mentors, and more, the fact remains that men are often better positioned than women to make the changes we need to create a more equitable world.

So I’m asking the gentlemen: Check out WIN-WIN. But also attend the next Women in the World Summit. Serve as a mentor to women at your office. Encourage your daughters to become scientists and mathematicians and politicians. This will be good for your soul, but also very likely for your wallets. Because as we here at Calvert Foundation like to say (repeatedly, apparently), investing in women is smart economics.

Oh, and Dad – happy birthday (May 8th)! You don’t have to share it with Mother’s Day this year. Not that you ever minded.

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New Team Member Brings Inspiration to Calvert Foundation

Posted on May 2, 2012 by patrick

By Lisa Hall, President and CEO at Calvert Foundation, twitter: @LisaGreenHall

With Mother’s Day coming up and WIN-WIN taking off, we’ve been talking a lot about moms lately. It’s easy to see why – moms inspire us. From the time we’re born and throughout our entire lives, we look to our mothers for support and guidance. We apply the lessons we learned at home as well as those we glean from our own experiences to nurture our own families and communities.

If we’re lucky, we find support and encouragement at work as well – and can grow professionally while making a lasting, positive difference in the world. At Calvert Foundation, we work together to create value for our investors, our partners and our borrowers – and that takes commitment.

Lorraine Gordon

We are also committed to “walking the walk,” and creating a positive environment in which our staff can thrive. That’s why we are delighted to announce the latest addition to the Calvert Foundation team: Lorraine Gordon. As Vice President of Human Resources, Lorraine will report directly to me so we can nurture the talent we already have in the office, as well as attract the best and the brightest new hires. It has always been a priority for us to develop the next generation of leaders in this sector, and I think it’s wonderful that so many of our staff joined the organization at the entry level – bringing their marvelous energy and enthusiasm.

And this is one of the ways in which Lorraine will be invaluable. Lorraine Gordon has a combined 25 years of experience as a leadership consultant, facilitator/workshop leader, executive coach, entrepreneur, and communications professional. She coaches leaders and teams on shifting and transforming their behaviors to better align with their own and their company’s culture and core values. Her coaching approach is goals-driven with emphasis on establishing trust, building awareness and accountability, and closing performance gaps.

She is also the author of a book about how moms inspire us called Momspirations, and has donated some copies for us to share with our friends (that’s you!). So, for Mother’s Day, to thank all of our supporters and people who are, have, or like moms, we’re giving away copies of Momspirations.

“I was inspired to write this book because I wanted to affirm my children of their worthiness and value. I wanted to shape their minds for success and give them a solid foundation. And for me, a solid foundation starts with paying attention to our words. Momspirations are practical empowering phases designed to inspire  a sense of self-worth and help children understand that they have a choice about how they think and behave.”

To claim your copy – just tell us on Facebook or via email how your mom inspired you.* It doesn’t have to be fancy. Something like, “My mom showed me every day how doing the right thing isn’t always easy, but it’s always better.” Or “My mom taught me how to raise a happy family, even when money was tight.”

Welcome Lorraine!

*We’ll distribute copies in the order in which we receive submissions until supplies run out. We’ll be in touch to find out where to send your book, and promise that we won’t use or share your address for any other purpose. Really, there’s no charge to you and no catch.

 

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“Confidence without attitude” – Characteristics of our next gen business leaders

Posted on April 24, 2012 by patrick

By Carrie Hutchison, Marketing Manager at Calvert Foundation, @carriehutchi

Carrie Hutchison

Carrie Hutchison

When he got up to the podium to close out the day’s events at the International Impact Investing Challenge last Friday, Rich Lyons, Dean of the Haas School of Business, said that the next generation of leaders will succeed because they have “confidence without attitude.” I scribbled this down, as did Paul Solli of Aperio Group, who was sitting next to me. “You like that too,” Paul said. And I realized that this was what made the whole day special: being in a room of people who were smart and caring and, well, confident without a bad or condescending attitude.

Paul and I, along with 15 others in the impact investing arena, served as judges for the International Impact Investing Challenge, put on by the Kellogg School of Management (and largely, the efforts of Jamie Jones – Assistant Director of Social Enterprise there – who has tireless energy and enthusiasm for this field). This is a competition open to graduate school students who submit ideas for investments that will create a financial return while making positive social change in the world. Now in its second year, the Challenge attracted over 40 submissions from student groups, and 11 were chosen by a panel of over 90 judges. Those 11 groups were invited to San Francisco to present. We chose the top four from those 11, and this “final four” presented to a larger audience of about 75 people that afternoon.

The winners of the Impact Investment Challenge – Himani Dilip Phadke, Kelcie Abraham, and Jonathan Strahl of Stanford – find out they’ve won. Their idea, REwiRE, is to bring electricity to communities in Indonesia.

The student presentations were thoughtful and impressive – bringing us business solutions to societal/environmental/economic problems around the world, from the lack of electricity in Indonesia, to distressed cattle ranchers in the American Midwest, to women unable to afford educational opportunities in Latin America. The always dynamic Dave Chen, Partner at Equilibrium Capital Group, pointed out that many of these student groups put these ideas and presentations together without guidance from social entrepreneurs or programs that support impact investing at their schools. I am hopeful that this lack of guidance and mentorship is changing. I heard an estimate this past week that there are nearly 5,000 social entrepreneurship classes being taught in the U.S. This is a trend we in the industry – as well as outside, in “traditional” finance and for-profit businesses – need to support. I applaud Kellogg (as well as the San Francisco Federal Reserve and my fellow judges) for creating this competition to recognize and reward those bringing plausible impact investment products to life.

Government is playing an encouraging role here as well.  In his keynote address to the larger crowd gathered that afternoon, Jonathan Greenblatt, the Director of the recently created White House Office of Social Innovation, listed a number of initiatives that have been created to support jobs and finance social programs. There is a positive correlation, he pointed out, between civic participation (such as voting, volunteering, donating, etc.,) and improved economic outcomes. In other words, impact investing isn’t just a feel-good activity; it could be a key driver to turning our economy around.

Meet the winners of this year’s Challenge, and find out how you can participate (or encourage students at your alma mater to do so) in 2012, which will likely be in DC. Coincidence? Jonathan Greenblatt would probably say not.

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Investing in Community Healthcare Providers: West Berkley Family Practice

Posted on April 23, 2012 by patrick

Justin Conway

Justin Conway

On Monday, Catherine Godschalk, Director, U.S. Investments, wrote about Calvert Foundation’s portfolio strategy, and the role of participatory lending in supporting the growing demands upon community health providers. Today, Justin Conway shares his thoughts on his recent visit to the West Berkeley Family Practice (WBFP). In Berkeley, the WBFP, like most community health centers, is the primary health services provider for the uninsured population and one of few dedicated providers for low income residents.  West Berkeley has the lowest median income in the city of Berkeley and an estimated 32% of children in the area live in poverty.

Calvert Foundation just funded a $2 million loan to support the renovation and expansion of WBFP. This project will enable the center – which serves 6,600 patients annually – to expand its facility from 12,000 to 20,000 square feet, increasing its capacity to serve 9,600 patients within five years. The clinic provides a holistic patient-centered care model, where patients can access primary care, mental health care, chronic care management, and wellness counseling all under one roof, regardless of their patients’ insurance status.

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By Justin Conway, Relationship Manager at Calvert Foundation, Twitter: @JustJBO

Walking up to the West Berkeley Family Practice, I could see and hear a lot of construction taking place on the outside, but wasn’t sure how I was going to get inside.  Felena Guye, a loan officer at NCB Capital Impact, who had been working with us on financing the clinic’s expansion, saw me and introduced herself.  She led me around all the construction to enter a temporary entrance to the clinic.  While the construction crews were busy outside, the inside of the clinic was even busier.  There, I met Nance Rosencranz, who kindly took me from the busy waiting room, to cramped staff offices set-up in the former school building’s auditorium, to a redone staff kitchen that they use to teach healthy cooking classes, and to the actual patient rooms themselves.

Along the way, I learned about the care they provide to West Berkeley’s low-income population, which includes everything from the different types of medical attention to the vouchers they give to patients to get fresh food at farmer’s markets.  The diversity not only of the people they serve, but also the range of services they provide to the community, is what I will remember most about LifeLong.  I am thrilled that we are helping them expand to meet the community’s needs and look forward to visiting again once completed. To learn more be sure to check out our video on the partnership with LifeLong.

The Bureller-Goldsons, a family of four generations, all receive treatment at LifeLong’s West Berkeley Family Practice (WBFP). Gwendolyn, the eldest family member, says, “I feel safe. I feel like all my needs are going to be met and that LifeLong is on my side.”

 

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