Are We There Yet? A Look at Credit Unions' DEI Journey

It’s been nearly two years since I stepped into the role of vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion at CUNA. Before taking on this role, my family and I went on a road trip. We started in Wisconsin with a destination of our new home in Portland, Ore. After teary goodbyes, my husband, our 10-year-old daughter, mom and poodle got into our SUV and drove across the country. We had fun, discovered new places, dreamt about what life would be like in our new home, and my daughter tortured us with the age-old family road trip question, “Are we there yet?”

Before I took on this role, many of us working on DEI in our movement could see the writing on the wall for financial institutions. We knew we weren’t close to being “there” yet. And yet we saw increasing pressure from policymakers and regulators around the need for more diversity in our ranks and greater financial inclusion and equity. Then came the summer of 2020 when we witnessed the traumatic murder of George Floyd, which sparked a long-overdue national reckoning with racial injustice. As if that wasn’t enough, the pandemic exposed the awful truth that Black, Indigenous, Hispanic/Latino and LGBTQ+ people, and women (especially women of color), were disproportionately impacted by deep inequities.

The moment had shifted, and there was an urgency around DEI. At CUNA and in the movement, our employees, members and communities demanded that we listen, learn and do better around DEI. CUNA and most credit unions responded. As a result, we have DEI accomplishments to celebrate. I want to take a moment to recognize how far we’ve come, share my growing list of lessons learned and consider some challenges that lie ahead.

We’ve Come a Long Way

Over the last two years, the percentage of credit unions focused on DEI jumped by 23%. Recent CUNA research found that in 2021, 60% of credit unions were intentionally focused on DEI (i.e., they are either planning DEI efforts or actively working to promote DEI and create more robust practices), up from 37% in 2019. CUNA estimates that approximately 80% of credit union members belong to a credit union on a DEI journey.

Those of us dedicated to advancing DEI in the movement have felt the momentum and witnessed the growing chorus of voices discussing, debating and ultimately supporting DEI. The results from the CUNA report are highly encouraging and confirm that there has been measurable and meaningful movement among credit unions when it comes to DEI. This is something to be celebrated.

While we know that DEI is in the credit union DNA, we also know that intentionality around our DEI efforts is needed to activate and lean into the work. This data makes it clear that credit unions have heard their employees, their members and their community, and are responding with intentionality around DEI. These results also signal that credit unions understand that DEI is about mission, margin, our continued relevance and credit union advocacy – and it’s the right thing to do.

Credit unions are in different places along the DEI journey. The CUNA report found that 41% of them are in the planning phase while 19% are in the implementation phase. Further, credit union size appears to influence the maturity level of DEI efforts. The larger the credit union, the more mature their efforts.

There is room for continued growth and maturation in our movement’s DEI journey. Making progress on this journey requires deep and active listening, challenging your biases, cultivating a growth mindset and rethinking your approach to leadership.

This last point brings me to our DEI journey at CUNA. Our DEI journey started before I became the vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion. Under the leadership of our then board chair, Maurice Smith, the CUNA board passed a resolution in 2019 adding diversity, equity and inclusion as a cooperative principle for America’s credit unions. I can’t begin to express how significant this was for the credit union movement. While many system partners and credit unions had been actively working on these issues, the resolution elevated DEI and called upon credit unions to focus on it as a movement. This watershed moment helped galvanize our movement around this vital work.

It’s not coincidental that 2019 was the first year CUNA surveyed credit unions about where they were on their DEI journey. That year, CUNA committed to advancing DEI. We committed to advancing DEI internally at CUNA and further empowering the credit union movement’s initiatives around DEI by amplifying the work of system partners and credit unions, and providing advocacy, education, research and networking opportunities.

CUNA is not the same organization it was when we started this journey. We’re building the foundation for more profound and transformational DEI efforts. Diversity, equity and inclusion is integrated into our organizational strategy. We co-created a DEI strategy and set of goals and are tracking our progress. We have five active Employee Engagement Groups. We also have a DEI Advisory Group composed of 15 employees from across the organization who guide our DEI efforts. We regularly celebrate and acknowledge important cultural and heritage events, raising awareness of the value of diversity. We’re committed to having meaningful conversations and living our inclusive value daily. We’ve changed our holiday policy to make it more inclusive. Last year, 100% of our staff and leadership participated in five hours of DEI workshops.

Important Signposts on the DEI Journey

Here are some of the lessons I’ve learned and absorbed from colleagues while leading CUNA’s DEI efforts. To be effective in our DEI efforts, we need to:

1. Center our humanity. We honor and value the uniqueness each one of us brings when we do this, and we recognize we are bound together in our shared humanity. This is a powerful shift in our frame of reference that opens the doors to empathy, curiosity, inclusion and equity.

2. Elevate inclusive leadership. This kind of leadership turns the traditional top-down leadership model on its head. It calls for introspection, vulnerability, transparency, empathy, seeking diverse opinions, humility and active listening. It also prioritizes psychological safety and trust-building in the workplace.

3. Be intentional and clear, and measure. We need to be intentional about why our organization is on a DEI journey and how it fits into our organizational strategy and goals. Then, we need to hold ourselves accountable through measurement.

4. Remember we can’t do this work alone. The Credit Union DEI Collective, of which CUNA is a founding member, recognizes this and serves as a resource for credit unions doing this work. It’s exciting that a growing community of credit unions, Leagues and other system partners are on this journey together.

5. Be patient and remember to take care of ourselves. While we need to be intentional and relentless about this work, we need to realize that we will not get there overnight. We also need to recognize that DEI work can take its toll. Those engaged in the work, especially folks of color, risk being re-traumatized. We are also blazing new paths, which is challenging in and of itself. But even more so when our efforts are met with hostility. This work is hard. It involves emotional labor and can take its toll, so we need to be mindful of engaging in self-care.

We Have Further to Go

It’s undeniable that credit unions have made progress around DEI, but we’re not there yet. And to be honest, we still have a long way to go. Diversity, equity and inclusion is not a fad. It’s a long-term, forever effort vital to fulfilling our mission, achieving financial well-being for all, and ensuring a thriving, relevant and growing movement now and into the future. It requires that we take an honest look at ourselves and look in the rearview mirror to see those we’re still leaving behind. Then, we need to redouble our efforts to welcome them and do what credit unions do best – make a difference in their lives.

Samira Salem Vice President for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion CUNA Washington, D.C.