Our Commitment to Our Community
Our Commitment to Our Community
We all deserve the chance for a life of security, faith, family, friends, and prosperity. That’s why we are committed to helping create a community of equality where everyone has the opportunity to pursue their dreams.
While we are passionate about many causes, the Black Lives Matter movement has highlighted with devastating clarity just how imperative it is to focus on our fight against racism.
Internal Initiatives
We were recently inspired by the Harvard Business Review article U.S. Businesses Must Take Meaningful Action Against Racism, and we are committing to internal change with the following action plan:
This list is by no means exhaustive, but our immediate steps are:
- Mandatory anti-bias and anti-racism training for our diverse internal team beginning on June 19th. Juneteenth is an American holiday commemorating the end of the enslavement of black people in 1865 and will become a marker in our firm's history to combat racism.
- Increased scrutiny, due diligence, and accountability of our vendors and external strategic alliances about their commitment to anti-racism.
- Supporting an increased inflow of fundraising dollars to organizations that improve the condition of black people.
Not-For-Profit Initiatives
Our not-for-profit efforts draw from the HEMS standard used in estate and trust planning to identify and found charities with missions that enhance the health, education, maintenance, and support of black people.
The Financial Implications of Slavery Heritage (FISH)
I recently founded FISH with other black financial professionals across the United States who share similar urban offices where concentrations of black people reside. Our goal is to educate the public and empower financial well-being. FISH is scheduled to launch in 2021 to:
- Explore the price of poverty and privilege on American families
- Educate Americans about how to leverage today's capital markets that took root in slavery
- Narrow the financial inequity gap of all Americans with financial literacy and personal responsibility programming
Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. Major General Irene Trowell-Harris Chapter
The Major General Irene Trowell-Harris Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. is a chartered member of the National Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. operating in the Mid-Hudson Valley. In addition, The Lee A. Archer Jr., Red Tail Youth Flying Program is a youth oriented program is a mentor program designed and operated by this chapter to help assist disadvantaged youth of the Hudson Valley Region of New York State.
Chapter Goals support and are inspired by those of the National Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. First and foremost, the chapter promotes the interest and honors the memory of the men and women who served in the Army Air Corp at Tuskegee, Alabama during the 1940s. We tell the story of the aspirations, frustrations and, most importantly, the successes of these pioneering men and women, everyday, in every forum possible.