Philly #DumpWells Campaign <--- Visit the main campaign page.

Philly THRIVE is demanding that Philadelphia take a stand against Wells Fargo. We stand with a coalition of citizens and other organizations driving the #DumpWells Campaign (please visit the campaign website, linked above, for more information). Together, we can steer city council to 1) Divest from Wells Fargo, a bank that has threatens our homes, health, and schools, and 2) Create a public, municipal bank that can invest in and restore our communities. Here's why these demands align with Philly THRIVE's principles and our #RightToBreathe campaign:

1) Thrive stands with Standing Rock:

The Standing Rock indigenous movement drew thousands to the plains of North Dakota to stand against the extension of Energy Transfer Partners' Dakota Access Pipeline. Pipeline construction threatened Standing Rock Sioux's water resources and generations of sacred land. In conjunction with other big banks, Wells Fargo is a major financier of Energy Transfer Partners and its extractive projects across the US. The City of Seattle has divested from Wells Fargo for the explicit role that bank played in the damage and desecration at Standing Rock. 

2) Wells Fargo funds Philadelphia Energy Solutions, the largest industrial producer of airborne pollutants in the city.

Since Philly Thrive's inception in 2015, we have been fighting for Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) to curb toxic emissions from its South Philly oil and gas refinery. The refinery consistently flouts EPA regulations and is the largest producer of airborne pollutants in the city. Its existence has led directly to increased levels of asthma and respiratory illness in children and adults of adjacent Philly neighborhoods, which are majority low-income and Black communities. Philly Thrive stands firmly against PES's local environmental practices and calls on City Council divest from a major financier to this poisonous institution. 

3) Thrive is for healthy, thriving communities. 

Wells Fargo isn't.

Wells Fargo has demonstrated that it is not invested in the health and wellbeing communities in Philadelphia or elsewhere. In addition to supporting environmental racism by funding PES, the bank perpetuates social justice issues that effect the same neighborhoods, such as underfunded schools, mass incarceration, homelessness, and economic injustice.

• Philly public schools currently hand over 10% of their annual budget to Wells after the bank left them $161M in debt from bad credit swaps in 2008.
• While Philly neighborhoods suffer from mass incarceration and the school-to-prison pipeline, Wells Fargo enforces this by giving big money to private prisons.
• Wells evicts more Philadelphia families from their homes than any other bank, due to its toxic mortgage practices.
• Not only has the bank cheated Philadelphians by creating millions of fraudulent accounts to collect bogus fees, but they’ve also been sued for explicitly racist lending practices, charging Black and Latinx borrowers at higher rates.

4) Why we support a public bank:

Big banks exist off our debt, rather than our health and safety. A public municipal bank would be a safe, community-controlled space that exists for our own wellbeing and interests. An example of such an institution is the century-old bank of North Dakota, which creates low interest student loans, low interest mortgages, funds disaster relief, and invests in municipal renovations. which would be controlled by the community itself and would reinvest in our collective interests. We want a bank that can help mitigate the damage that institutions like Wells Fargo have wrought.