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Heartland's Rebuilding Chicago Forum Shows Economic Impact of Responsible Investments In City's Infrastructure

Appropriate Financing Strategies Addressed
By Marco Trbovich, Vice President of Strategic Communications for Tricom Associates

Chicago - "Sustainability is a critical part of the heritage of Chicago and the foundation for our city's future," Karen Weigert, the city's Chief Sustainability Officer told investment fund executives meeting recently at the Heartland Capital Strategies' Responsible Investment Forum in Chicago.

Karen Weigert, Chicago Sustainability Director, opens the Forum.

The UN principles guide a comprehensive approach to investment management that considers the broader Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) ramifications of developing and owning assets, going beyond the traditional investor and fiduciary goals of preserving or enhancing economic returns and mitigating risk. 

 The forum was sponsored by Heartland Capital Strategies (HCS),  which fosters a community of practice through a capital network that promotes investments and projects utilizing the UN ESG principles.  The forum drew upwards of 70 private and pension investors, labor and business leaders, and public officials, representing hundreds of billions of dollars. Read More 

PRESS RELEASE

For Release:
December 13, 2012

NYC Teacher Pension Fund Pledges $1 Billion to Investments in Post-Sandy Reconstruction and Other Critical Infrastructure  

New Funding is Progress in Meeting a $10 billion Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to Action to Invest in American Infrastructure  

New York - In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the New York City Teachers Retirement System has pledged $1 billion to new investments in infrastructure projects, including improvements to transportation, power, water, communications, and housing in New York City and throughout the tri-state area.

While all projects will be rated on the basis of their return and the fund's fiduciary standards, potential investments could range from repairing bridges to rebuilding housing destroyed by the hurricane. In addition to repairing and upgrading facilities used by hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, the infrastructure fund could create thousands of jobs.

This pledge is part of a multi-year Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment to Action made by the AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and partners at the inaugural CGI America meeting in June 2011.  Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C.  - Ullico Inc. today announced it has closed its first infrastructure investment deal.  The investment will make critical capital improvements to the water and wastewater infrastructure of Rialto, California.  It is estimated by Rialto Water Services that these improvements will produce 445 jobs for members of the local building and construction trades. 

"At Ullico, we believe that investing in infrastructure requires applying best practices like having long-term public and private partners, building strong community-driven solutions and having local partners, including local unions and local union contractors," said Edward M. Smith, president and CEO of Ullico Inc.  "Our program focuses on investing in projects where the municipal partners and our investment partners share this philosophy.  The capital improvements will be done with union labor, in accordance with our strong pro-organized labor contracting policies, which maximize the use of firms that employ union workers. We are proud to make this Ullico's first infrastructure investment." Read More