SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Portland, Oregon Is First U.S. City to Divest Funds from Walmart
The initiative also prohibits the city from purchasing Walmart bonds in the future.
May 18, 2014
On Thursday, May 15, the city of Portland got rid of $9 million, or 25 percent, of its investments in Walmart. This marks the beginning of a divestment program that will purge Portland's investment portfolio of $36 million in Walmart bonds by 2016, according to a press release. The divestment plan is part of the city's responsible investment initiative, introduced by City Commissioner Steve Novick, and adopted in October 2013. The initiative also prohibits the city from purchasing Walmart bonds in the future.
Portland is not only discontinuing its investments in Walmart, but has set up a committee to advise it on making socially responsible investments in the future. The committee will address issues like abusive labor practices, corruption, and health concerns, among other things.
During a press conference on May 15, Commissioner Novick encouraged other cities to adopt similar initiatives.
From what I can tell, no other U.S. city has looked at socially responsible investing in quite the same way as Portland. I'm hopeful other cities and states take note and adopt similar investment principles to hold companies accountable and align our investment policies with our values.
Meanwhile, the company's net income fell 5 percent, and shares fell 2 percent, in the first quarter of 2014, failing to meet Wall Street's expectations for the third time in five quarters.
Walmart blamed its poor performance on bad weather.
_____________________________________
Laura Garcia and Molly Rusk wrote this article for YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions. Laura is an Education Outreach Intern at YES! and a graduate of the program in Political Science and International Relations at Saint Louis University.
Molly is an online reporting intern at YES! and a recent graduate of the program in Creative Writing at the University of Washington.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Molly Rusk
Molly Rusk is a recent graduate of the program in Creative Writing at the University of Washington and an online reporting intern at YES! Magazine
Laura Garcia
Laura Garcia is an Education Outreach Intern at YES! Magazine.
On Thursday, May 15, the city of Portland got rid of $9 million, or 25 percent, of its investments in Walmart. This marks the beginning of a divestment program that will purge Portland's investment portfolio of $36 million in Walmart bonds by 2016, according to a press release. The divestment plan is part of the city's responsible investment initiative, introduced by City Commissioner Steve Novick, and adopted in October 2013. The initiative also prohibits the city from purchasing Walmart bonds in the future.
Portland is not only discontinuing its investments in Walmart, but has set up a committee to advise it on making socially responsible investments in the future. The committee will address issues like abusive labor practices, corruption, and health concerns, among other things.
During a press conference on May 15, Commissioner Novick encouraged other cities to adopt similar initiatives.
From what I can tell, no other U.S. city has looked at socially responsible investing in quite the same way as Portland. I'm hopeful other cities and states take note and adopt similar investment principles to hold companies accountable and align our investment policies with our values.
Meanwhile, the company's net income fell 5 percent, and shares fell 2 percent, in the first quarter of 2014, failing to meet Wall Street's expectations for the third time in five quarters.
Walmart blamed its poor performance on bad weather.
_____________________________________
Laura Garcia and Molly Rusk wrote this article for YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions. Laura is an Education Outreach Intern at YES! and a graduate of the program in Political Science and International Relations at Saint Louis University.
Molly is an online reporting intern at YES! and a recent graduate of the program in Creative Writing at the University of Washington.
Molly Rusk
Molly Rusk is a recent graduate of the program in Creative Writing at the University of Washington and an online reporting intern at YES! Magazine
Laura Garcia
Laura Garcia is an Education Outreach Intern at YES! Magazine.
On Thursday, May 15, the city of Portland got rid of $9 million, or 25 percent, of its investments in Walmart. This marks the beginning of a divestment program that will purge Portland's investment portfolio of $36 million in Walmart bonds by 2016, according to a press release. The divestment plan is part of the city's responsible investment initiative, introduced by City Commissioner Steve Novick, and adopted in October 2013. The initiative also prohibits the city from purchasing Walmart bonds in the future.
Portland is not only discontinuing its investments in Walmart, but has set up a committee to advise it on making socially responsible investments in the future. The committee will address issues like abusive labor practices, corruption, and health concerns, among other things.
During a press conference on May 15, Commissioner Novick encouraged other cities to adopt similar initiatives.
From what I can tell, no other U.S. city has looked at socially responsible investing in quite the same way as Portland. I'm hopeful other cities and states take note and adopt similar investment principles to hold companies accountable and align our investment policies with our values.
Meanwhile, the company's net income fell 5 percent, and shares fell 2 percent, in the first quarter of 2014, failing to meet Wall Street's expectations for the third time in five quarters.
Walmart blamed its poor performance on bad weather.
_____________________________________
Laura Garcia and Molly Rusk wrote this article for YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions. Laura is an Education Outreach Intern at YES! and a graduate of the program in Political Science and International Relations at Saint Louis University.
Molly is an online reporting intern at YES! and a recent graduate of the program in Creative Writing at the University of Washington.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.