Arborview Capital's Racial Justice Plan of Action

Like most Americans, the Arborview Capital team has been called to action in response to the murders of George Floyd, Elijah McClain, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, and so many others. Institutionalized racism has persisted in our society for centuries and while the United States has made modest progress, we believe that all parts of our society must redouble our efforts to address these inequities in more fundamental ways.

Over the past weeks we have expressed our solidarity with the Black community by protesting peacefully in our home city of DC. We have also taken time to reflect on our roles in the system, to listen, and to discuss ways in which we can support necessary changes. Based on that dialogue we commit ourselves to a specific set of objectives in support of racial justice as we move forward.

  1. We believe that voting is the best way to create significant, lasting change in our society. As this NYT article describes well, fixing racial inequities requires policy reform and workers shouldn’t have to forgo a day’s pay in order to vote. Therefore, we will make Election Day a paid holiday within our firm and will work with our portfolio companies and our fellow Impact Capital Managers to do the same. This is an important step toward strengthening our democratic system and removing one barrier to voting for Americans who have been systemically disenfranchised.

  2. Our strongest leverage point as a firm is the capital we steward. We are reevaluating our investment process with the goal of broadening our networks, supporting Black founders, and including racial justice as part of our discussions at investment committee meetings.

  3. We will enhance our recruiting processes to attract more Black candidates for opportunities within our firm, our portfolio companies, and their Boards of Directors.

  4. We will continue to dedicate our personal time and money to dismantling racism and promoting inclusion by mentoring in our community, growing non-profit organizations with a social equity focus, like The Trust for Public Land, further developing our own leadership skills via programs like Leadership of Greater Washington, and donating to local organizations.

We come to these commitments with a desire to keep listening, learning, and doing better. We hope you will join and push us in striving for a racially just world.

Arborview Capital: Karl Khoury, Joe Lipscomb, Carolyn Farley, Maggie Varona, Roger Ballentine, Joe Del Guercio