CUNA Board: Add Diversity, Equity & Inclusion to Co-op Principles Posted by AVCU on 11:22 AM

Earlier this month the CUNA Board of Directors, led by Brett Martinez, president/CEO of Redwood CU in Santa Rosa, Calif., voted in favor of a resolution to clearly and prominently establish diversity, equity and inclusion as a cooperative principle of America’s credit unions.

“Diversity, equity and inclusion are a part of what credit unions do each and every day. Our cooperative principles have guided us to fulfill our mandate and be a resource to all consumers-no matter their income, race, religion. But we’re committed to doing more,” said CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle. “In passing this resolution, we’re continuing our work to embrace diversity, equity and inclusion efforts within our organization while we support measures throughout our movement and across all cooperatives.”

The resolution comes after former board chair Maurice Smith, CEO of Local Government FCU, Raleigh, N.C., called for the cooperative principles to include diversity, equity and inclusion. Smith appointed a Diversity and Inclusion Ad Hoc Working Group during his time as CUNA Board chair.

The National Credit Union Administration has posted resources to aid credit unions in assessing and improving diversity in their business practices. The resources include:

• Annual Voluntary Credit Union Diversity Self-Assessment
• Information about the Annual Voluntary Credit Union Diversity Self-Assessment
• Credit Union Guide to Supplier Diversity
• Credit Union Supplier Diversity FAQs

For each of the past two years NCUA has posted results of a nationwide credit union diversity self-assessment survey. The 2018 results area available online.