By Ray Birch
TACOMA, Wash.—It wasn’t that long ago within the credit union community that saying there was more work to be done when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) was considered to be “ugly words,” according to one person.
But that’s exactly the scenario that existed in credit unions up until the recent past, although now that perspective has flipped with the death of George Floyd, said Ronaldo Hardy, co-owner and chief diversity and inclusion officer at CU Strategic Planning.
Hardy believes steps are being taken within the movement today to do more than give lip service to addressing racial equality.
As CUToday.info has reported, more credit unions are stepping up with diversity efforts that extend out from the credit union, as well—such as UW Credit Union in Wisconsin. More credit unions have also been hiring executive leaders of drive diversity and inclusion efforts within their own organizations, with DEI-related job titles now being seen. And the African American Credit Union Coalition (AACUC) has launched its Commitment to Change: Credit Unions Unite Against Racism initiative in which numerous CUs and associations have participated.
“There’s more to be done,” said Hardy. “Back then we were not ready to say we have work to do with DEI. To say we had to do that, back then, were ugly words. It was not easy then to start that dialogue, and I am very glad to see the progress.”
As CUToday.info reported, Credit Union Strategic Planning has developed a new DEI Credit Union Designation.
Signup for the first cohort began in April and work began work in June. The program runs a full year, including six months of intense education and training, and then six additional months of a project that will be implemented in an organization, according to Hardy.
‘Rigorous’ Training
“The certification program is rigorous. CU Strategic Planning’s program begins with Harvard’s Implicit Association test as part of the Unconscious Bias Assessment to determine the organization’s baseline,” Hardy explained. “Team members are confidentially assessed for potential bias in the areas of race, gender, disability and sexuality. We take it a step further with those in leadership who are making the hiring decisions, digging into weight, skin tone and age. All data are aggregated.”
Hardy believes the training will lead to more than just long-term change.
“A lot of organizations need to change the right way,” he said.
Hardy contends a training program with certification will have the effect the credit union movement has been seeking when it comes to giving racial equality serious attention while heping organizations avoid “rushing into” a DEI effort with very little focus.
“We want organizations to do more than rubber stamp these efforts,” Hardy said. “We want to make sure that organizations know that in order to do this effectively you need to lift this up to a strategic level within the organization. Because you want to do this the right way—meaning this will touch all off the assets of the business, and touch how the organization operates.”
Getting Away from the Fluff
He said the course will also move organizations away from “fluff.”
“We’ll move into how do we go about rolling up our sleeves and make things happen so we remove the unconscious bias. That is a very big foundational piece of the whole process, because we want organizations to be able to make reasonable progress in DEI,” explained Hardy. “But to get started they have to have a baseline.”
According to Heady, each credit union needs to establish a “baseline” for where it stands with DEI to then be able to effectively measure its progress, noted Hardy.
CU Strategic Planning’s DEI training will address DEI on “multiple levels,” explained Hardy.
“We're going to go in-depth on racial construct—how race was constructed and what has been the outcome of this construction,” he said. “We'll go deep into understanding of gender bias—what are the limitations that have been elevated as a result of that? How do we break through those barriers. The same things around sexuality. They're many things for which we feel there needs to be deeper and broader understanding. We're going to dive into those things.”
The Dismantling Process
Hardy said the program will address how to dismantle many of the barriers that get in the way of DEI.
“We’ll address how to dismantle them the right way,” he said. “We’ll address that, and then how does the organization build its culture so that it is inclusive—diversity equity and inclusion are three separate things, but they work in concert with each other.”
Ten credit unions are participating in the first cohort, Hardy said.
“We’ve had a lot of credit unions reach out to us,” said Hardy. “No matter how much response we get, we’re not going to go beyond ten credit unions for the first program.”