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By Marilín M. Llanes, OP Director of the Portfolio Advisory Board and Office
January 14, 2025, Fort Pierce, Florida – In October 2024 two powerful hurricanes left widespread devastation in the southeastern United States. Communities in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and beyond were walloped by the hurricanes within a two-week span, leaving lives disrupted and lost, homes destroyed, and critical infrastructure severely damaged.
In response to the serious needs arising from these cataclysmic storms, the Solar Energy Loan Fund (SELF) has been a beacon of hope, acting swiftly to deliver relief.
St. Lucie, Florida, in the county where SELF is headquartered, was directly affected by Hurricane Milton, which caused considerable damage to the area. Historically, SELF has offered financial assistance to residents of hurricane disaster areas with great success and impact. SELF stepped up again for the residents who needed the most assistance. Partnering with SELF, the Adrian Dominican Sisters Portfolio Advisory Board (PAB) is part of these rebuilding efforts.
On December 3, 2024, the PAB approved a Hurricane Recovery Loan for $100,000 with a very low interest to offer home repair loans of $10,000 to the most at-risk homeowners. With these loans, homeowners can make necessary repairs and replacements to ensure that their homes are safe and sanitary and do not continue to deteriorate further.
SELF is the first nonprofit in the country dedicated exclusively to climate equity, storm resilience, and sustainability in under-resourced and underbanked communities. SELF began its journey in 2009 as a U.S. Department of Energy pilot program in St. Lucie County, Florida, and has since expanded operations to four states – Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina – focusing on projects in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods with a default rate of less than 2 percent. Since 2013, SELF has been a lending partner with the PAB.
We stand in solidarity with SELF in their diligence in providing hurricane relief to residents by offering low-cost loans with grace periods that allow ample time to repair their homes. Truly, SELF is a green beacon of hope in these challenging times.
Caption for above feature photo: These residents, like many others, receive service from the Solar Energy Loan Fund as they deal with devastation caused by hurricanes. Photo Courtesy of the Solar Energy Loan Fund
By Mary Minette PAB Consultant
December 16, 2024, New York, New York – Faith-based investors gathered in September for the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility’s (ICCR) annual fall conference to explore and collaborate on various topics impacting shareholder advocacy. Through shareholder advocacy, faith-based organizations buy shares of corporations, allowing them to advocate for the corporation’s adoption of just policies.
The conference focused in part on how companies adopt artificial intelligence (AI) tools and how AI affects people and communities. Panels focused on how investors can effectively engage companies to ensure users’ privacy and safety in light of increasing use of AI; the challenges and risks posed by the increased use of AI tools by health insurers to make coverage decisions for individuals; and on AI’s impact on public conversations and access to information in an election year that is key for the United States and many other countries.
In addition, the conference included discussions of new and evolving issues:
• The impact of healthcare consolidation on coverage and care for patients, which highlighted real-world impacts through conversations with healthcare providers and recipients.
• The increasing challenges investors face following the recent Supreme Court decision impeding the ability of federal agencies to issue common-sense regulations to protect public interests, as well as anti-environmental, social, and governance (ESG) legislation and lawsuits.
• The suboptimal working conditions in the seafood industry. The panel included local labor organizations who delved into on-the-ground insight and provided shareholder actions.
• Just transition, including a panel discussion by local organizations who discussed the impact of the development of wind energy on local economies.
The ICCR conference concluded with the organization’s annual event, "Navigating Troubled Waters: Corporate Political Responsibility in Turbulent Times." Corporate representatives spoke about how their organizations are navigating political discourse in our divided country.
Most importantly, the annual event also included the awarding of ICCR’s Legacy Award to Pat Zerega of Mercy Investment Services, who has worked as a consultant to the Portfolio Advisory Board (PAB) for the past decade, for her “five decades of shareholder advocacy on behalf of people and planet.”
In granting the award to Pat, the ICCR noted that she “has dedicated her life and career to serving and speaking out for the ‘least of these my brothers and sisters.’ Her care and concern for the dignity of each person is at the core of her being, her faith, and her mission to advance corporate respect for human rights from the community to corporate boardrooms. Pat has been indispensable in her service to ICCR, both as a board member and as an active member and leader of several working groups.”
The PAB joins the ICCR in celebrating Pat’s dedication to our shared work and the legacy of impact on corporate policies!
Caption for above feature photo: Pat Zerega, center, former consultant to the Portfolio Advisory Board, holds the 2024 Legacy Award from the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR). With her are, from left, Rob Fohr, Chair of the ICCR Board; Katie McCloskey, Vice President of Social Responsibility for Mercy Investments; Susan Markos, retired Vice President of Social Responsibility for Mercy Investments; and Josh Zinner, CEO of ICCR.
October 10, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – The Adrian Dominican Sisters Portfolio Advisory Board (PAB) held its annual meeting during the last week of September and shared the fruits of that meeting in a September 27, 2024, Fireside Chat in the Weber Center Auditorium.
After the Board and staff members introduced themselves, Cynthia Crim, PAB Chair since 2022, offered an update. The Board approved five loans to community organizations. The Board’s greatest accomplishment during the meeting, however, was adopting the 2023-2028 Strategic Plan, which had been approved last year by the PAB and the General Council. “More than anything, we spent a lot of time listening to each other and really studying and making sure the plan embodied all of the Enactments,” particularly diversity, gender equity, and environmental sustainability, Cynthia reported.
Details on the Strategic Plan and on the five organizations whose loans were approved will be included in upcoming PAB articles published on the Adrian Dominican Sisters public website.
Cynthia also announced the Vision and Mission of the PAB, crafted during the meeting:
Vision Rooted in the Vision, Mission, and Enactments of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, the Portfolio Advisory Board envisions a beloved community without poverty, hunger, homelessness, and ecological degradation. The beloved community is shaped by its collective voices and is committed to promoting racial and gender equity and systemic changes to policies and practices of institutions inhibiting its realization. Building on its collaborative strength, the beloved community is an active, healthy, and thriving space where all are welcome and have a voice.
Mission The Mission of the Portfolio Advisory Board is to use the assets of the Adrian Dominican Sisters to build the beloved community. We invest in community organizations that create opportunities for those who are marginalized and that embody values of collaboration, inclusiveness, right relationship with Earth, and racial and gender equity. We use our voice as shareholders in corporations to promote policies and practices that build the beloved community.
Marilín Llanes, OP, PAB Director and Portfolio Manager, announced the upcoming 50th anniversary celebration of PAB, Building on Legacy, Impacting the Future, set for Friday, September 26, 2025, at Weber Center. The celebration will include a video telling the story of PAB through the voices of 13 Sisters, Associates, and lay members of the Board. Details are forthcoming.
Sister Marilín also encouraged Sisters and Associates to check out the refreshed PAB page of the Congregation’s public website, which features pictures and articles depicting the work and partners of the PAB. Articles focus alternatively on corporate responsibility efforts and community investments.
For the remainder of the Fireside Chat, Eric K. Foster, Co-Founder, Chair, and Managing Director of Rende Progress Capital, spoke of his work offering loans and other financial services to businesses owned by people of color. Rende has been part of the PAB’s portfolio since 2020, Sister Marilín said. “We were very taken by [Rende’s] whole mission and vision because it was so aligned with our values.”
Based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Rende has 47 loan customers, Eric said. Those clients “represent statistically having higher loan denials than their white peer business owners,” he explained. “In credit, they have had similar credit worthiness to white businesses, but in our landscape in Western Michigan, they cannot get a bank loan.” Of his clients, he said, 70% never received a loan before Rende took them on.
Eric emphasized the impact that loans have on the lives of the entrepreneurs of color and the people they serve. One company, Reliable Medical Transport, offers rides to vulnerable people with mobility problems for non-emergency medical appointments as well as non-medical activities. With loans, Reliable Medical Transport and other businesses have been able to expand, increase their revenue, and pay higher wages to their employees, he said.
Eric thanked the PAB for the loan that he had received from them, enabling him in return to offer loans to entrepreneurs of color. He also encouraged them to stand strong in the face of a movement of “aggrieved white people who fought back against affirmative action,” which has persuaded some corporations to stop funding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts. Many companies are “under pressure from those who tell them that it’s wrong to promote racial justice,” Eric said. But as a 501(c)3 organization, he added, the PAB has the right to offer grants and investments to people of color and other marginalized groups. “Don’t stop it,” he said. “Don’t cave in.”
View the entire Fireside Chat below or in our public video library.
Caption for above photo: Members of the Portfolio Advisory Board (PAB) during their September 2024 meeting are, from left, Carla Manning; Mary Ellen Leciejewski, OP; Marilin Llanes, OP, Director and Portfolio Manager; Bibiana “Bless” Colasito, OP, General Council Liaison; Sidney Williams, Jr., in back; Judy Byron, OP; Kris Cooper, Office Manager; Joseph Barker II; and Cynthia Crim, Chair. Not pictured are Carmen Mora, Vice Chair, and Mary Minette, Mercy Investment Consultant.
By Cathi Kim Senior Vice President, Inclusiv/Capital, Investments and Impact
September 12, 2024, New York, New York -- Inclusiv and the Adrian Dominican Sisters announced the Sisters’ investment in Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito Jesús Obrero (“Jesús Obrero”), a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) cooperativca advancing the economic well-being of communities in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rican cooperativas have been at the forefront of Hurricane Maria recovery efforts and initiatives to revitalize local economies across the Island. Jesús Obrero’s mission and impact focus on the economic, social, and environmental well-being of under-resourced communities and the cooperative sector.
Jesús Obrero has developed one of the leading green lending models, providing critical infrastructure on the island by financing the installation of hundreds of solar systems for households and small businesses and supporting the creation of community micro-grids.
The Adrian Dominican Sisters Portfolio Advisory Board is the first investor to replicate the model created by Inclusiv and Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation to invest in cooperativas and their recovery and resiliency initiatives in Puerto Rico. This partnership demonstrates the strength of the Puerto Rican cooperative sector and field building efforts led by Inclusiv. This investment represents the latest impact initiative added to the 42-year partnership between Inclusiv and Adrian Dominican Sisters. Read more about Inclusiv’s partnership with Adrian Dominican Sisters in the 2023 Inclusiv Annual Report.
“The Adrian Dominican Sisters have been catalytic partners to the community development credit union movement, demonstrating what is possible when we lead with purpose and put communities first,” said Cathie Mahon, President and CEO of Inclusiv. “Inclusiv is grateful for the Sisters’ dedication and foresight that provided the critical capital necessary for the growth of the CDFI sector. We are delighted to expand our partnership on anti-poverty and wealth-building initiatives to include the climate resiliency and economic revitalization efforts led by cooperativas in Puerto Rico.”
Sister Marilín M. Llanes, OP, Director of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Portfolio Advisory Office, said, “We rejoice with our new partnership with Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito Jesús Obrero thanks to Inclusiv for facilitating the connection. A great hope in common we share is to be pathways bringing about economic opportunities for the struggling but resilient communities in Puerto Rico.”
Aurelio Arroyo González, Executive President of Cooperativa Jesús Obrero, said the investment “allows us to continue expanding the footprint of cooperative solidarity work in our communities.” He added that since its founding in 1959, the Cooperativa has focused on developing financial products and services that strengthen members' ability to improve their conditions and quality of life and, more recently, to enhance their capacity to face the challenges brought by climate change. “This investment represents a boost to the history of community engagement of our institution, and we receive it with the commitment to continue creating opportunities for our members, communities, and the cooperative ecosystem of Puerto Rico,” he said.
Inclusiv’s work to increase investment in cooperativas is just beginning. Thanks to trailblazing investors like the Adrian Dominican Sisters and Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, more institutional investors are exploring opportunities to support cooperativas by working with Inclusiv to invest and place deposits in these vital institutions. The first mainland investor deposits in cooperativas are coming soon and Inclusiv looks forward to continuing to grow its capital offerings for the cooperativa sector.
By Dee Ann Joyner, Associate Director of Portfolio Advisory Board
The Portfolio Advisory Board (PAB) held its spring meeting March 23-24, 2023, at Weber Retreat and Conference Center. The first day was devoted to business items, shareholder advocacy, and community impact investing. The second day focused on strategic planning. PAB member Joe Barker opened the meeting each day with a beautiful reflection and prayer.
The following are highlights from the meeting.
Following a presentation on community investing trends by Charlene Van Dijk, Senior Advisor for Community and Economic Development for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Sister Marilín Llanes, OP, Portfolio Manager, presented an update on the PAB community impact loan portfolio. She then presented five loans for renewal and two new loans for approval.
The PAB approved the following loans for renewal:
New loans were approved for the following borrowing partners:
Pat Zerega, PAB consultant with Mercy Investment Services, and Judy Byron, OP, PAB consultant with the Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investing, presented a report on their activities for the 2023 proxy year. They have engaged with 34 companies on 66 topics in three major areas of focus: protection of human rights, healthy persons and communities, and environmental sustainability.
In addition, they filed 17 shareholder resolutions, 13 of which were accompanied by some form of dialogue with the companies. One of the resolutions (with Johnson & Johnson) was withdrawn when the company agreed to support the shareholder request for a third-party audit of the racial impact of its policies, practices, and products. The Adrian Dominican Sisters supported signing on to 24 letters, joining other faith-based investors in expressing viewpoints on actions of various companies at odds with our social impact criteria.
Following the mid-year report, Pat and Sister Judy were joined by Mary Minnette of Mercy Investment Services and shared their observations on trends in shareholder advocacy to inform further discussion by the PAB as part of its strategic planning process.
Cynthia Crim, center, Chair of the Portfolio Advisory Board (PAB), stands with Corinne Florek, OP, left, and Judy Byron, OP, as the PAB thanks them for their service.
The PAB and members of the General Council expressed gratitude to Sister Corinne and Sister Judy upon their retirements for their many contributions to PAB. Sister Corinne retired effective June 30, 2022, as portfolio manager, and Sister Judy will retire as shareholder advocacy consultant on June 30, 2023. Contributions were made to the Opportunity Resource Fund and to the Intercommunity Peace and Justice Council respectively in honor of Sisters Corinne and Judy.
Cynthia Crim, PAB Chair, thanked the retirees on behalf of the PAB and Corinne Sanders, OP, General Council Liaison and voting member of PAB, led a toast before members of PAB shared stories and appreciation.
Day two of the PAB meeting was devoted to engaging the board in a discussion of a proposed strategic planning process recommended by its Strategic Planning Committee. Cynthia and Sister Marilín began the day by leading a discussion of the book The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee. Members of the board had been asked to read the first three chapters of the book, which introduces the premise that racist policies impact everyone, not just those persons they are designed to hurt.
Following a discussion of how this impacts the work of PAB, the board spent the rest of the day discussing a logic model, the Theory of Change, as a framework for strategic planning. The discussion was led by PAB member Carla Mannings and Sister Marilín.
After an explanation of the Theory of Change Model, Carla and Marilín presented proposed vision and mission statements recommended by the Strategic Planning Committee. The board adopted the following to guide its work:
PAB Vision: Rooted in the vision, mission, and enactments of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, the Portfolio Advisory Board envisions a beloved community without poverty, hunger, homelessness, and ecological degradation. The beloved community is shaped by its collective voices and is committed to promoting racial and gender equity and systemic changes to policies and practices of institutions inhibiting its realization. Building on its collaborative strength, the beloved community is an active, healthy, and thriving space where all are welcome and have a voice.
PAB Mission: The mission of PAB is to use the assets of the Adrian Dominican Sisters to build the beloved community. We invest in community organizations that create opportunities for those who are marginalized and that embody values of collaboration, inclusiveness, right relationship with Earth, and racial and gender equity. We use our voice as shareholders in corporations to promote policies and practices that build the beloved community.
The board then reviewed the outputs from the PAB September meeting discussion of the Enactments and agreed upon four overarching themes for the strategic plan:
• Shareholder Advocacy • Community Impact Investing • Alignment of the Work of PAB for Greater Impact • Collaboration with Internal and External Partners
A fifth area, Sustainability, will be integrated with the Shareholder Advocacy and Community Impact Investing themes.
The board began work on developing impact statements for the four themes and affirmed continuing to use the Theory of Change framework for its planning process. The Strategic Planning Committee will take the work of the board back to further develop each theme and return with recommendations for the board to consider in September.
The meeting ended with honorable closure. Please see the PAB website for monthly articles on our borrowing partners and shareholder advocacy activities.
Feature Photo at top: Attending the Portfolio Advisory Board Spring 2023 meeting are: standing, from left, Joseph Barker II; Associate Dee Ann Joyner, Director; Bibiana “Bless” Colasito, OP, General Council Co-Liaison; Marilín Llanes, OP, Portfolio Manager; Kristine Cooper, Office Manager; Cynthia Crim, Chair; Pat Zerega, Consultant; Carmen Mora, Vice Chair; Mary Minnette, Consultant; Carla Mannings; Corinne Sanders, OP, General Council Co-Liaison; and Janice Brown, OP, General Councilor and former Board member. Seated or kneeling, from left, are Corinne Florek, OP, retired Consultant; Judy Byron, OP, Consultant; and Mary Priniski, OP.
After serving as Portfolio Manager for Community Investing for the Portfolio Advisory Board (PAB) for the past four years, Corinne Florek, OP (left), will bring this work to completion at the end of this fiscal year. We thank Sister Corinne for her many contributions to the work of PAB, for building long-lasting relationships with borrowers, and for sharing her expertise and commitment to social impact investing.
The General Council invited Marilín Llanes, OP (right), to succeed Sister Corinne in the role of Portfolio Manager. In informing the PAB of Sister Marilín’s selection, Elise García, OP, General Council Liaison to the PAB, stated:
“The General Council is deeply grateful to Corinne Florek, OP, for her extraordinary decades-long leadership in the field of community investing and for her current service as the PAB’s Portfolio Manager. We are delighted to inform you that Marilín Llanes, OP, has accepted our call to take on the role of Portfolio Manager effective July 1, 2022, and that Associate Dee Joyner has agreed to continue as PAB Director through FY2023.”
Sister Corinne will be working with Sister Marilín during an on-boarding period until the PAB Annual Meeting in September 2022. Sister Marilín, currently serving as the PAB Board Chair, will step down from this role following the March 2022 Board meeting. She will remain a member of the Board until July 1, 2022, when she joins the staff as Portfolio Manager. The PAB will elect new leadership at its March meeting.
By Associate Dee Ann Joyner Director, Portfolio Advisory Board
October 12, 2021, Adrian, Michigan – The Portfolio Advisory Board (PAB) gathered via Zoom September 23-24, 2021, for its annual meeting. They welcomed new Board members, Carmen Mora and Joe Barker, who were both introduced on the PAB website last month. Elise García, OP, General Council liaison to the PAB, also attended her first meeting as a voting member following an amendment to the by-laws approved by the General Council in June.
The PAB also recommended to the General Council the appointment of Carla Mannings to an open position of the Board. The PAB recommended a change to the social impact environment policy to limit investments in any company receiving more than 3% of their revenues producing thermal coal or oil sands. The General Council approved both recommendations.
On Day 1 of the meeting, Judy Byron, OP, consultant on shareholder advocacy, facilitated a panel discussing pesticides and their impact on the environment. Margie Weber, a former PAB staff member and member of the Board, discussed the history of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ advocacy activities on pesticides and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). She emphasized the long, slow process of changing corporate practices, yet the process does result in important changes.
Caroline Boden, with Mercy Investment Services, discussed the work she has been doing with the Interfaith Coalition for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) with both food and beverage manufacturers and retailers. For example, the ICCR has gotten corporations to commit publicly to reduce their use of pesticides or at least to switch to less toxic treatments. She stressed the leverage these companies have on their supply chain and discussed success in dialogue with Campbell’s Soups and General Mills in reducing pesticide use on the ingredients in their products.
Corinne Sanders, OP, Director of the Congregation’s Office of Sustainability, discussed her office’s work on reducing pesticide use on the Motherhouse Campus. Her office ceased to use chemical-based pesticides that destroy the health of the soil and has transitioned to using neem oil to enhance fruit, berry, and nut tree growth. Neem oil only affects harmful insects, not pollinators.
In conclusion, the panel agreed on the need for a multifaceted approach to advocate consistently and continuously with companies to ensure their policies and practices reduce the use of harmful pesticides and to practice reducing our own personal use whenever and wherever possible.
Sister Judy and Pat Zerega, board consultant on shareholder advocacy from Mercy Investment Services, updated the Board on 2020-21 advocacy activities. On behalf of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, they engaged 43 companies on 65 engagement topics. The Adrian Dominican Sisters filed 17 shareholder resolutions and participated in 55 sign-on letters covering diverse topics. For example, a letter was sent to 21 food and beverage companies on issues of racial justice and food equity.
Pat and Sister Judy also presented the 2021-2022 advocacy plan which the PAB unanimously approved. The plan outlines strategies for PAB’s engagements with companies on issues such as the systemic inequities evident during COVID-19 and the quest for racial justice, as well as advocacy for policies that promote the rights of workers, food justice, and health equity. Investor statements and sign-on letters are often part of the advocacy process in these priority areas.
Day 2 focused on Community Investing. Corinne Florek, OP, Portfolio Manager for PAB, opened the meeting with a reflection excerpted from the social impact finance criteria developed by Richard Rohr’s Center for Contemplation and Action.
Sister Corinne provided historical background on the creation of the Religious Congregations Impact Fund (RCIF), for which she served as Founding Director until her retirement in 2020. Her successor, Sarah Geisler, provided an update on RCIF and its plans for future growth. The Adrian Dominican Sisters joined RCIF as a sponsor in 2017 and moved $1million from the PAB community investing portfolio to RCIF. RCIF and PAB often invest in the same non-profit organizations and collaborate in their approach to impact investing.
PAB then reviewed three loans presented by Sister Corinne. They approved the renewal of loans to Inclusiv, which provides capital to member credit unions serving low-income communities, and Fonkoze USA, a loan fund investing in small businesses in Haiti.
The Board also reviewed a new loan request from the Real People’s Fund, a collaboration among six non-profits serving the East Bay, California area. The purpose of the new Fund is to provide community capital funding to historically divested communities in the East Bay. The minimum loan term is seven years, which is longer that the Congregation’s policy of making loans for terms of one to five years. Because of its enthusiasm about the Real People’s Fund and its possible impact, the Board requested that the General Council amend the policy on the terms of loans so that they can consider approving a loan to the Real People’s Fund at a future meeting.
The last item on the agenda was a review of the community investing social impact criteria with a racial equity lens and discussion on possible changes. The Board postponed this discussion to the next meeting, giving them more time for an in-depth discussion of this important matter.
The next meeting of the PAB is scheduled for March 24-25, 2022.
October 12, 2021, Adrian, Michigan – At its October meeting, the General Council approved the Portfolio Advisory Board’s (PAB) nomination of Carla Mannings as the Board’s newest member. Carla joins the PAB Board immediately to fill an open position and begin a three-year term on July 1, 2022.
Carla is a relationship manager and Senior Vice President of the Commercial Lending Group of City First Bank in Washington, D.C. City First is the largest African American- owned bank in the United States. Before joining City First, she was Chief of Strategic Initiatives for Partners for the Common Good (PCG), with whom the Adrian Dominican Sisters have had a long relationship.
Carla is currently serving on the boards of National Coalition for Community Capital, Opportunity Finance Network, and National Disability CDFI Coalition. She has a bachelor’s degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C. and a Master of Business Administration degree from Brenau University in Atlanta.
"I have worked with Carla on the Resource Center for Religious Institutions, as well as on PCG’s board,” said Sister Corinne Florek, OP, who nominated Carla for the PAB. “She is a woman of great integrity and strong commitment to the work of justice. I feel she will bring much knowledge and experience in community investing. She is a great educator and communicator."
September 13, 2021, Albuquerque, New Mexico — When everyday people and their families prosper, we all succeed. Our neighbors are the drivers and the foundation of their communities. It is clear that everyday New Mexicans are the true experts when it comes to knowing what they and their families need to thrive. Still, families and the voices of everyday New Mexicans all too often go unheard in the conversations that affect them the most.
For 30 years, the Partnership for Community Action (PCA), based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has helped develop strong community leaders and advocates by investing in people and creating a strong voice in the communities they call home. Understanding that people know their own communities best, we encourage families to take ownership of the solutions and to lead the way.
By connecting communities to decision makers, we can create lasting change together. PCA is actively working to fight white supremacy and the literal and figurative violence that it breeds through anti-blackness, the erasure of Indigenous peoples, and the oppression of LGBTQ+ communities.
In 2015, PCA envisioned a redevelopment project centered on racial equity in Albuquerque’s South Valley, a community that has been divested from for generations. Through thoughtful and intentional community engagement with local residents, the idea of the Social Enterprise Center (SEC) was born. The project is an innovative approach to economic development, funded by public and private partnerships and led by PCA and the Southwest Creations Collaborative who have a combined history of more than 55 years of developing community-centered solutions.
The SEC will immediately employ more than 50 people on a family-friendly campus that includes nearly 20,000 square feet of commercial space. Services include a manufacturing facility operated by Southwest Creations Collaborative, childcare space for the employees within the SEC, a family/community engagement and training center, and educational support services for families.
Notwithstanding the major challenges our organizations have experienced during the pandemic, both PCA and Southwest Creations Collaborative have continued their programs and services for families. The SEC will be an innovative model that serves the economic and social needs of the community during a time when economic security and family wellbeing is at the forefront of major policy decisions. We look forward to being a part of the solution for families in our community as we rise out of this pandemic.
The Social Enterprise Center is scheduled to open in the fall of 2021.
Feature photo: Construction begins on the Social Enterprise Center, located in the heart of the South Valley in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
August 20, 2020, Adrian, Michigan – Cynthia Curry Crim was named Vice Chair of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Portfolio Advisory Board (PAB). In this position, she will be working on the PAB’s executive team with Associate Dee Joyner, Director of Resilient Communities for the Congregation, and Sister Marilín Llanes, OP, Chair.
Established by the Adrian Dominican Sisters more than 40 years ago, the PAB helps the Congregation to use its resources justly, in ways that resonate with its mission. The Corporate Responsibility aspect focuses on using dialogue and shareholder resolutions to keep corporations accountable in areas such as the environment, treatment of workers, and responsibility to local communities. The Community Investment aspect offers low-interest loans to community-based enterprises that serve communities and people in need.
Now in her second year as a PAB member, Cynthia is excited to be serving on the executive team as Vice Chair. The executive team is involved in behind-the-scenes work and strategic planning – “a lot of planning to make sure that each time the PAB meets, we have a productive meeting,” she said. “We’re just trying to make sure that the Board members have the right information, to make the meetings more engaging.”
Cynthia said serving on the PAB fits right in with her work experience. From about 1993 to 1998, she worked in Chicago as director of nonprofit organizations. “All my work centered on family and children, but I also realized you have to look at housing, education, and health,” she said. She wanted to change focus, “not to leave the nonprofit community but I really wanted to see a bigger part of the work.”
Cynthia then served as Associate Executive Director of the Steans Family Foundation in Chicago. The Executive Director was “totally committed to the community and really believed in engaging community residents about the decisions that were going on,” Cynthia said. She compared this work to the Congregation’s focus on helping to form resilient communities in specific geographic areas of the country.
Cynthia and her family moved to St. Louis in 2002. After working for Nonprofit Services Consortium, an intermediary that collaborates with local nonprofit organizations, Cynthia was hired 15 years ago by Dee Joyner to work at Commerce Bank, managing part of its corporate foundation and two family foundations.
Cynthia said Dee invited her to serve on the PAB. “I had known about her work with the Adrian Dominican Sisters while she was at Commerce,” Cynthia said. “She would talk about being on the PAB, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be asked [to serve on the Board].”
Working on the PAB has enhanced her knowledge. “What I have learned is that investment in the community can be direct or indirect,” she said. She sees the corporate responsibility aspect, and particularly shareholder advocacy, as having an indirect but profound effect on the community.
“How many people in underserved communities have any idea of the impact that corporations have?” she asked. “So the work that the Sisters are doing – advocating that corporations look at what they’re doing in terms of how they’re polluting the environment – has a major impact on those who have no voice. That is a powerful tool to use.”
Cynthia sees the work of community investment as being directly involved in the local communities. “I like that during this time of COVID and Black Lives Matter, I have really seen in our last meeting this commitment to walk the talk and try as best as possible to make a difference in the communities, making sure that people who are already struggling can somehow get some relief,” she said. “To be part of this is pretty special.”
Portfolio Advisory Board, Adrian Dominican Sisters | 1257 E. Siena Heights Drive | Adrian, Michigan 49221 Phone: (517) 266-3523 | Email our office: