Hispanic Heritage Month 2023

Hispanic Heritage Month 2023 ended October 15 and I would like to share with you how Inclusiv, many of our members, and the movement celebrated it.

Many of these activities are coordinated closely with the National Association of Latino Credit Unions and Professionals (NLCUP).

Press coverage

Below are several interviews and mentions in the credit union press and general media.

• ‘Together we advance’ | CUNA News
• Diversity Insight: Partnering With the Mexican Consulate to Serve Farm Workers | CU Management
• This Is What A Credit Union Designed For The Hispanic Community Looks Like | Next City

Juntos Avanzamos proclamations

Throughout the month, the team was busy supporting and participating in Juntos Avanzamos proclamations (shout out to René A. Vargas Martínez, Director, Inclusiv Puerto Rico Network and Juntos Avanzamos, and Keyshla Molina Zayas, Program Officer, Inclusiv Puerto Rico Network for supporting and coordinating these events and special thanks to René and Chriselle Martinez, CDFI Program Director for representing us at these events.)

These proclamation events represent a very public commitment to financial inclusion, provide a spotlight for Latino employees (their level of pride is simply off the charts), increases board and management support for the program, and conveys a strong message about social impact to the members of the credit union and community at large.

Webinars

In terms of webinars, we hosted one of the best attended sessions ever with over 300 registrations for our talk with Manuel Hernández Cárdenas, Documentation Consul at the Consulate of Mexico in Oxnard.

We’re planning a follow up webinar on account opening procedures with NCUA and ViClarity titled Removing Barriers to Financial Inclusion: Best Practices in Account Opening.  Stay tuned for more information!

Networking Opportunities

There were also several opportunities to engage/participate with industry partners:

• African American Credit Union Coalition (AACUC): DEI centric organization that provides professional development support to African American professionals.
• Michigan Credit Union League
• National Credit Union Administration (NCUA): The Federal regulator for credit unions.
  • Cultura: Latino Employee Resource Group (ERG)
• TruStage: Credit union-owned insurance company that provides life and disability insurance to credit union borrowers.
  • Amig@s: Latino ERG
• Credit Union National Association (CUNA): The largest trade association for mainstream credit unions.
  • Spanglish: ERG
• National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF): Credit Union Development Educator (CUDE) program.

Special recognition

• Rene Vargas Martínez, Director of Inclusiv Puerto Rico Network and Juntos Avanzamos, for putting together an amazing HHM Juntos Avanzamos magazine with terrific articles that have been posted through social media. Some of the articles are below:
  • CEO profile - Margie Salazar, CEO of FirstLight FCU
  • Mexican Ambassador (Consul of Oxnard, CA) profile
  • Jesús Obrero Cooperativa offers financial services to Dominican consulate in San Juan
  • Quantum Credit Union celebrates its Juntos Avanzamos Proclamation Ceremony

• CUNA Senior Economist, Ligia Vado for preparing a financial performance analysis of the Juntos Avanzamos designated credit unions. We’re curious to see if the results will be consistent with their first analysis, which showed that Juntos Avanzamos-designated credit unions outpaced credit unions that did not receive the designation by growing their memberships by 28.1% and experiencing 39.9% higher increases in loans and assets.