文章基本信息

标题：There's room for improvement
作者：Hanson, James A
期刊名称：Credit Union Magazine
印刷版ISSN：0011-1066
出版年度：1999
卷号：Mar 1999
出版社：Credit Union National Association, Inc.

There's room for improvement

Hanson, James A

Twenty three percent of credit union employees are members of minority groups, according to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) data. Considering minorities make up about 16% of the general population, the credit union showing looks decent.

EEOC's data in the table below is representative of credit unions and banks with more than 50 employees. These larger credit unions (7% of all credit unions) hold 63% of the movement's assets, serve 56% of all members, and employ 59% of all employees. The data show banks employ a higher percentage of minorities than do credit unions.

But that's not why the African American Credit Union Executives Association (AACUEA), CUNA, and the Credit Union Executives Society are pushing an executive internship program for minorities.

The push is for future credit union economic stability. African-Americans alone are a $533 billion market. And the market is growing fast-up 70% since 1990. Demographic trends show that in 50 years the minority population (including Hispanics) will nearly equal the white population in this country.

A minority internship program is not another social program, suggests Chuck Taylor, from CUNA's center for professional development. It's about building an economic bridge between credit unions and those groups.

Mike Hale, who was recruited into the movement from his position as a credit manager at Firestone, is one of the 6% of black credit union executives. Hale runs Andrews Federal Credit Union, Suitland, Md.-a credit union with more than $500 million in assets and more than 300 employees. He also serves as chairman of AACUEA. A one-time bank employee, he never was comfortable with its for-profit philosophies.

Banks have associations and programs that actively recruit blacks and other minorities "a heck of a lot more aggressively than we do," says Hale.

You can look at the EEOC data and be self-satisfied, or you can see the need to improve upon it. Isn't that the credit union difference?