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Articles & Commentary

March 31, 2021

A Much Needed Equitable Growth Era for Community Wealth Building

By Michael Lent, Roraj Pradhananga, & Casey Verbeck

Community wealth building solutions aim to help address racial and gender discrimination and spread prosperity while ensuring sustainable economic growth in historically marginalized and under-resourced communities.

Tragically, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the inequalities and inequities faced by our most vulnerable communities. The poorest populations, both here in the U.S. and globally, have been the hardest hit in terms of disproportionately worse health outcomes and in loss of income, jobs and educational opportunities.¹ The World Bank projected in 2020 that extreme poverty and income inequality for low-income and emerging economies, especially communities of color would rise because of the pandemic.²

January 28, 2021

Optimism that Leads to Achievement: A Letter from Patricia Farrar-Rivas and Stephanie Cohn Rupp

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope or confidence.” ― Helen Keller.

After a tumultuous 2020, the world saw a shocking beginning to 2021. Despite the heartache and political and economic volatility we have seen signs of resilience that inspire optimism. We are optimistic, but understand we must all do our part to rise to the challenges of this moment. This dark time has led Veris Wealth Partners to become even more staunch in our commitment to growing equity and social justice and environmental solutions through impact investing.

July 29, 2020

PG&E, Climate Change and the Sustainable Path Forward

By Anders Ferguson

The failure of Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to provide power safely to Northern California has been a human and economic nightmare, while highlighting the ineffective regulatory oversight of the investor-owned utility.

But as tragic as this has been, the fallout has created new momentum for a safer, greener era of power generation and distribution in the Golden State and potentially elsewhere.

June 4, 2020

Standing For Racial Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Standing For Racial Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

By Patricia Farrar-Rivas

All of us at Veris stand in solidarity with the family of George Floyd, and the many others who have been a victim of police brutality and injustice.

The moment is upon us to realize, once again, that racial injustice isn’t an isolated event. It’s a systemic problem deeply embedded in all aspects of our society, and it is tearing us all apart.

March 23, 2020

Veris Fights for Shareholder Engagement

Members of the Veris team, along with Veris supporters Laurie Emrich, Ellen Remmer, Caroline Gabel and Jed Sturman, recently met with the SEC to discuss rule changes that will severely restrict shareholder activism. The meeting was one of the only in-person conversations between the SEC staff and investors. This blog discusses the proposed changes.

March 12, 2020

The new SECURE Act: What You Should Know

By Tim Kingsbury, Wealth Manager

The SECURE Act, passed on Dec. 20, 2019, contains some major changes governing IRAs and retirement plans, charitable contributions, 529 plans and college student loan debt, among other financial matters. In this blog, we focus on key provisions of the Act to help you plan ahead.