Public Banking Can Support WILPF’s Vision

By Marybeth Gardam
Chair, Women, Money & Democracy (W$D) Committee

February 2021

The Women, Money & Democracy Committee of WILPF US has been learning about the potential that public banking initiatives offer for advancing system change in environmental justice, economic justice, and peace. W$D’s new PUBLIC BANKING TOOLKIT provides an anthology of short readings that offer an accessible understanding of what public banking is, where it is functioning and is being proposed, and how it can advance WILPF’s many goals.

As WILPF prioritizes its campaign #Move the Money from War to Peace, public banking can support reallocating investments away from the transnational big banks which often direct their investments (including pension plans and insurance company reserves) in extractive and polluting industries, fossil fuels, and financing lobbying efforts that oppose WILPF’s vision of peace and justice.

From the Public Banking Institute. Their website has helpful information and resources.

Public banking can also create protections from the kind of risky investments that crashed the U.S. economy in 2008. North Dakota, which has had the only public bank in North America for decades, was also the only state that did not suffer massive foreclosures and bankruptcies in the 2008 crash. And public banking can help make loans for mortgages, student loans, and small business more accessible to everyone. A public bank keeps local money invested in local projects that are aimed at enhancing communities as opposed to investing it in international industries and war making. 

Find the TOOLKIT here.

Members of the Women, Money & Democracy Committee will be contacting branches about an upcoming opportunity to learn more about how best to support local efforts at starting a public bank in your cities and states.

Working with our partner www.AnEconomyofOurOwn.org, in late spring or summer 2021, we’ll be co-sponsoring a short series of Public Banking “Deep Dives,” 5-6 workshops for people who want practical advice from experts on how to initiate and support local public banking initiatives. Branches in states where initiatives have already begun will be prioritized for contact first.

Please consider if your branch, or those of you who are independent, at-large members, would be interested in participating in this kind of financial reform effort to advance peace and justice. If you wish to sign up early, contact the Women, Money & Democracy chair at mbgardam@gmail.com.