Big, Small DEI Changes in Motion

“People helping people” has long been a mantra for the credit union industry. That phrase could mean different things to different credit union professionals: Supporting a community in need after a natural disaster, lifting up individuals facing financial hardships, or creating a space or even a new credit union to provide needed resources for a segment of the population.

In the highly regulated credit union universe, building these support services can take years to accomplish, and sometimes it takes multiple efforts through several attempts to get one right.

Despite the challenges, there are credit union-focused organizations that have embraced the “people helping people” philosophy with a focus on Black ­professionals and the Black community, and their efforts could truly benefit people of all races.

At the Minnesota Credit Union Foundation (MnCUF), a branch of the Minnesota Credit Union Network, executives have thrown their support behind the non-profit organization the Association for Black Economic Power (ABEP) to create a new credit union – Village Financial Credit Union.

The struggles of forming this new credit union have been widely reported since 2017, when the project first got off the ground.

In late 2019, officials with the ABEP, the organization behind the formation of the new credit union, announced they had rescinded their application to obtain a state charter after its executive director was ousted for financial misconduct, mismanagement and gross negligence.

Despite this setback, which attracted widespread negative news coverage from the Minneapolis media, the ABEP said it was still dedicated to developing and opening a Black-led credit union that will serve the specific banking needs of the North Minneapolis community.

Fast forward to May 2020.

“Then George Floyd happened and the initiative gathered steam again,” said Minnesota Credit Union Network Vice President of Communications and Engagement Andrea Molnau, who also serves as executive director for MnCUF. “They have a new executive director now at the Association for Black Economic Power, Debra Hurston. And she is forging ahead and she’s doing a wonderful job.”

Molnau said the Minnesota Credit Union Network has continued to play a consultative role with the ABEP in helping the organization make the proper credit union industry connections, providing resources and helping submit a new charter application for Village Financial. She indicated the new charter application could be filed as early as in the first half of 2022.

“You know, with many de novo credit unions, there’s a sponsoring organization that provides that financial backing to get the credit union up and running,” Molnau said. “Because Village Financial was kind of born out of this idea from the community as a solution to economic injustice, there really wasn’t any one single sponsoring organization that had the capital to be able to help start this. So as the philanthropic arm of the credit union movement in Minnesota, that’s where the foundation stepped in to help with that capacity.”

Molnau’s groups have indeed stepped in by creating a special fund at the foundation to help generate capital donations to get Village Financial off the ground.

“We’ve raised about half a million dollars so far in capital donations from the credit union community and we’ve got about $1.5 million pledged in deposits,” she said.

While Molnau and her team continue their work on the Village Financial project, in Minnesota’s neighboring state of Wisconsin, CUES launched another effort in line with the “people helping people” philosophy.

In early February, as a way to honor and support Black History Month, officials announced the creation of the CUES Black Professionals Network.

“We’re pleased to recognize and connect the credit union industry with the trusted Black-owned organizations and individuals that CUES supports and that support us,” CUES President/CEO John Pembroke said.

The CUES Black Professionals Network currently features 17 professionals whose jobs range from university professors and staff, to Black business executives and consultants.

CUES SVP and Chief Marketing Officer Tony Hill explained the idea behind the creation of the network was not just about highlighting these professionals, it was about helping the credit union industry expand its view beyond the status quo.

“We offer this up as a resource to the industry to help them, you know, improve the diversity and inclusion efforts within their supplier base and the people that they buy products and services from,” Hill said. “You know, diversity and inclusion is not just about whom you hire, but it’s also about whom you do business with.”

The network is exactly that – a network of new connections and Black professional resources for credit unions to use.

“If you think back a couple of years ago, we all as an industry, and many organizations, stood up and took a firm stand on social justice and racial injustice,” Hill said. “And, you know, we took a stand to improve diversity and inclusion across the industry. Many organizations made public pledges and statements to do that and this is an opportunity to help those organizations follow through with the things that they pledged they would do.” Hill said this network is a new, first step in CUES’ efforts to support “people helping people.”

“We hope to grow this over time,” he said. “We recognize that we’ve done a pretty good job and we also recognize that this is a small and limited [beginning], but we hope that we continue to expand it and grow it, and we also want to add other groups to it as well.”

In March, Hill stated a similar network resource group will launch for women in honor of Women’s History Month.

In launching efforts like these, both CUES and the MnCUF acknowledged they are creating opportunities out of the needs they hear about from the industry and the communities they serve.

The groups admitted they dove in and are doing their best to figure out how to properly execute new opportunities for people and an entire industry.

At the MnCUF, Molnau said her challenges have included the lack of a roadmap to navigate the complexities of creating not only the first Black-led credit union in Minnesota, but a credit union, period.

“To be honest, we weren’t really sure what to expect in doing the call for financial contributions, and it’s been extremely rewarding to see those dollars come in and those pledges come in,” Molnau said, adding, “But a roadmap would be great!”

Molnau and Hill appeared to have similar views when it comes to taking on new ideas to benefit minority populations, emphasizing that they in fact benefit everyone.

“Businesses that have a more diverse executive staff outperform those that don’t, and that business case has been proven,” Hill said. “Beyond that though, it’s just the right thing to do and that’s how we look at it.”

Hill continued, “It’s important to our organization. It’s built into our culture and we hope to provide these resources to it so we can help grow it into the DNA and the culture of other organizations as well. We just want to be a part of the solution.”

Molnau said, “The idea is, you know, we want to be able to serve as many people as we can and invite as many people as we can who feel marginalized by the current financial system into the credit union space. But exactly how to do that, I think it kind of depends on the needs of the community.”

Change can be slow, but impactful. Molnau’s and Hill’s efforts remain in the sowing stages and both said they believe once things take root, there could be a tremendous harvest and benefit to the cooperative financial system that lasts for years.