CUNA Releases a 'Roadmap to Inclusion' Report Supporting DEI Efforts

CUNA’s Board of Directors revealed its initial outline and implementation plan for both the organization and the credit union industry to follow in efforts to support a more equitable and inclusive financial system for Black people and communities.

The report, released Tuesday, was in response to CUNA’s announcement in early June when the Board of Directors passed a resolution to publicly acknowledge its stand against structural racism. That acknowledgment came after the death of George Floyd, who was killed by Minneapolis police officers in May and the subsequent protests that occurred across the country.

“While the nation reckons with the blight of systemic racism, CUNA — in collaboration with the American Association of Credit Union Leagues (AACUL), the African-American Credit Union Coalition (AACUC), and other system partners — continues to advance the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI),” the report stated.

According to the report, in collaboration with AACUL, AACUC and others, CUNA outlined three strategic commitments:

1. Create a more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace. CUNA has added “inclusive” as an internal core value, engaged employees through forums and engagement groups and is in the process of developing a DEI guide to capture goals, guidelines and agreed-upon approached to continue employees’ journey of learning. In July, CUNA also named Samira Salem to the newly created position of vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion.
2. DEI expansion across the credit union system by promoting DEI as a shared credit union cooperative principle. Create a focused effort to diversify speakers, presenters and panelists at various events, and collaborate with system partners and experts on DEI training for credit unions.
3. Partnership with the AACUC. Work together to understand, speak out and support efforts to break down systems that enable racism. Join with AACUC’s Commitment to Change: Credit Unions Against Racism initiative and League efforts to create scholarship fund to assist AACUC members pursue professional development opportunities within the credit union system.

“Though CUNA has long advocated to expand credit unions’ ability to reach more members through the reduction of legislative and regulatory membership restrictions, the organization began last year to implement internal- and external-facing DEI teams within the organization to better reflect the credit union mission to serve those most often left out of financial systems,” the report read. “The work of these teams set a foundation of understanding to create momentum for change across the movement.”

CUNA provided a copy of the report to read here.