Transcripts For CSPAN2 Financial Regulators Testify On Impact Of Regulations On Diversity And... 20240712

[inaudible] thank you. The subcommittee will come to order. Without objection the chair is authorized to declare a recess of the subcommittee at any time. Without objection members of the full committee not on this subcommittee are authorized to participate in todays hearing. Members are reminded to keep their video function on at all times, even when they are not recognized by the chair. Members are also reminded that they are responsible for muting and unmuting themselves, and to meet themselves after they finished speaking. Consistent with the regulations of a Company House resolution 965, staff will only mute members and witnesses as appropriate. We not recognized to avoid inadvertent background noise. Members are reminded that all house rules relating to order and decorum apply to this remote hearing. This hearing is entitled Holding Financial regulators accountable for diversity and inclusion. I now recognize myself for four minutes to give an opening statement. Todays hearing focus is Holding Financial regulators accountable for diversity and inclusion, perspective from offices of minority and women inclusion. Our country is facing three pandemics, covid19 and economic pandemic, at this fight for social justice pandemic. These challenges have reshaped our work and our personal relationships in unprecedented ways. Todays hearing is dashed by appreciate all of our witnesses and members for participating by webex. Im hopeful we will be able to strike a balance between pastoral contents, the man for greater industry inclusiveness and transparency, as well as highlights accomplishment. 2020 marks the tenth anniversary of the doddfrank wall street for a Consumer Protection act. Through the leadership of our chairwoman, chairwoman Maxine Waters come members of the Democratic Caucus and countless diversity and inclusion stakeholders section 342 of doddfrank was devised to serve as a catalyst to enhance diversity and inclusion performance as a financial regulatory agency, and for the entities they regulate. Prior to the enactment of doddfrank policymakers, Financial Services come stakeholders, lack access to performance data to transparency review diversity practices and policies of regulated entities. And the financial crisis in 2008 disproportionally impacted low income americans in communities of color. Congress recognizing the Important Role the First Communities of plate in the United States economy took action to diversify the Financial Service sector to help prevent the usage and discriminative practices that help cause the crisis from happening again. Throughout the 116th congress, i along with my colleagues have reminded that all diversity and inclusion is a business imperative. Improve the bottom line and its essential, it is an essential tool for closing the racial wealth gap. Our diversity and Inclusion Work has brought new life into how Financial Institutions and agencies evaluate, access, and expand inclusiveness. A recent analysis highlights a persistent lack of racial diversity in senior roles at the regulatory agency. Our work is pointed to systemic racism as the need for us to the intentional in our inclusiveness, contrary to President Trump comments. System grayson is a National Crisis which Diversity Community in our economy here in june Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged structural discrimination exists in the United States economy today, and impedes the economic success of communities of color. Mr. Powell also highlighted that theres a requirement that Asset Managers and brokerdealers who contract with the fed in the pandemic relief effort must meet diversity and inclusion performance requirements. Just as we have charged the banks and other Financial Institutions to discuss and share data regarding how they have improved the workplace and supply diversity policy and practices, we are eager to hear from you regarding your agencys performance. Because transparency and accountability are critical to achieving effective and sustainable performance. We recognize your limited authority, and have been informed each other Agency Directors that this is them that this committee will be Holding First in line for accountabilities on diversity and inclusion performance. In closing, we are resolute and determined to see your agencys and regulated entities achieve both the letter and spirit of doddfrank, the success of our economy depends on the full inclusion of all communities. The chair now recognizes the Ranking Member, the gentlewoman from missouri, and my friend, congresswoman wagner for five minutes. Thank you, madam chairwoman. Its good to see. I pray she juuling district at a like to to thank all the witnesses for testifying today. We look forward to hearing from each of you on the work that the office of minority and women inclusion have been doing this successfully diversify the workforces of our financial regulators. Over the past year this subcommittee has failed multiple hearings on the benefits of Diverse Workforce studies Show Companies with Diverse Workforces performed better compared to the less diverse competitors come Diverse Firms proving more innovative and companies with less diversity. It is in a Companies Best interest to hire and develop a Diverse Workforce and create an Inclusive Work environment. Federal agencies like the private sector will realize many benefits from a Diverse Workforce. The pursuit inclusion while related are not separate issues and must be addressed couple i company or federal agency may be able to increase recruitment is equally as important to focus efforts to make sure the environment is included. Every change and to fully realize the benefits of a Diverse Workforce. Studies continue to show minorities and women tend to lead Financial Services firms at a higher rate than their white male counterparts. To improve the rate of retention, companies and federal agencies must adjust their culture and promote the development of diverse talent. This requires a pronounced commitment from leadership and a specific action plan to increase inclusion. In order to be most Effective Company policy changes should be of limited from the top down and have buyin at all levels of management. When i speak of topdown policy changes be if omitted, a prime example is mentioned in todays test one. Ms. Cofield needs regular with acting control brook and the agencies executive eddie and Senior Management to assure the occ fulfills its commitment to diversity and inclusion. Its by ends like this at the senior level that makes a diverse, that makes a big difference whether its a director meeting with an agency head in senior staff, or the chief diversity officer having constant communication with the ceo. That relationship fosters a strong commitment to successfully recruit, retain and promote minorities and women. The benefits of a Diverse Workforce of wellestablished and the private sector still a set of best practice to recruit and retain a Diverse Workforce and prioritize inclusion. Federal agencies would also benefit from implementing these strategies. Some of the best practices we have learned about in hearings this congress that increased retention rates and approved inclusivity of the workplace, include providing Financial Literacy training, transparency regarding salaries, and promotion opportunities. Mentoring and sponsorship programs, Employee Resource Groups, unconscious buys training, a Flexible Work for working mothers. Our goal today should be to identify the successful strategy for recruiting and retaining minorities and women, and explore how Government Agencies can better but those strategies within their own structures. I look forward, try to about the work that you all and always has been doing today and i have his committee for examining these important issues. I thank you and i yield back, madam chair. Thank you very much, Ranking Member kaine the chair now recognizes the chair of the full committee, the gentlewoman from california, the author of doddfrank 342, congresswoman Maxine Waters. Very much, chairwoman beatty. [inaudible] february hearing today we have assembled of the directors of the office of minority women and inclusion known as omwi from the financial regulator agencies to discuss their progress and challenges in fulfilling their diversity of inclusion oversight initiative. Ten years ago i authored the language in the doddfrank wall street reform and Consumer Protection act that created the own to be champions and watchdogs that are Financial Services agencies for diversity and inclusion on the tenth anniversary of doddfrank it was growing protests across the country calling for an end to systemic racism. This hearing is long overdue. I want to thank you and ms. Wagner for the work that you been doing, giving oversight ever since her elected to office. You have been taken on this responsibility and i so appreciate you for. The Financial Services regulators play an Important Role in removing systemic racial and gender barriers and the literature the American Economy is inclusive and accessible to all. I yield back the balance of my time thank you so much to our chairwoman. Today, we are, we welcome the testimony of nine witnesses divided into two panels. Our first panel of omwi directive will focus on the banking regulators. Joyce cofield is the executive director, office of minority and women inclusion of the office of the comptroller of currency. Sheila clark is the director of the office of minority women inclusion of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve system. Lacey dingman is the director, office of minority and women inclusion of the Federal Reserve bank of new york. Nikita pearson is the acting director, office of minority women inclusion of the federal deposit insurance corporation. And monica davy is a director, office of minority and women inclusion of the National Credit Union Administration witnesses are reminded that their oral testimony would be limited to five minutes. I chime will go off at the end of your time and ask that you respect the members and other witnesses time by wrapping up your oral testimony. Without objection your written statement he made part of the record. Ms. Cofield, you are now recognized for five minutes to give an oral presentation of your testimony. Chairwoman beatty, Ranking Member wagner, and members of the subcommittee, i am Joyce Cofield and i serve as the executive director of the office of minority and women inclusion at the office of the comptroller of the currency. I am pleased to discuss our commitment to diversity and inclusion within a workplace as suppliers in the federal Banking System. The occ omwi was established in 2010 in the doddfrank act. I have served as the executive director since its inception. Acting comptroller brooks and i share a commitment for promoting diversity and inclusion. I meet regularly with the acting comptroller as i with previous comment to restrict the occ is dedicated to maintain a Diverse Workforce through a strategy that focuses on leadership commitment, Recruitment Strategies that provide diverse workplace, retention strategies, sensitive to employ differences and a culture that respects, values, speaks diversity. As the subcommittee has heard in previous things come successful diverse and inclusion begins the tone at the top acting comptroller brooks has vigorously championed his commitment towards improving the impact of occ diversity programs and disengage executive committee on how to improve the diversity of candidates place for hiring and promotion. Additionally, we are excited about a recently launched Initiative Project reach that convenes leaders from banking, civil rights, technology and business organizations to execute projects that will reduce barriers to the full and fair economic participation, and expand access to credit and capital to minority and underserved communities. To ensure that occ hires and retains management of staff, omwi provide each position with Detailed Analysis that Workforce Trends twice you to visit the integration of diversity and inclusion into Business Unit plans. These analyses include recruitment and hiring, emotions and separations, and Employee Development and retention information. To expand the diversity of our applicant pool, the occ took more than 200 colleges and universities including hispanic serving visitations, historically black colleges and universities, and institutions with large female student populations. We participate in my nordic professional organizations actively support interns. This summer we hosted more than one of minority students from local high schools for a six week paid virtual leadership internship. Despite limitations from the coronavirus, the occ provided the interns with many positive, enriching experiences. The occ provides a variety of education and developmental opportunities. Omwi supports these efforts by providing focused diversity and inclusion training including for both managers and employees and, of course, on women in leadership. The agency recently added leadership exploration and Development Program to build leadership competencies for aspiring leaders and managers. In the first cadre completing this fall, there was 53 female, 18 blacks, and 12 hispanic. The occ is also committed to the inclusion of minority womenowned businesses at all levels of our business activity. I am proud that over the last ten years greater than 30 all occ procurement contracts of god to minority and womenowned businesses. Working closely with our procurement colleagues, omwi staff provides Technical Assistance, greater awareness and facilitate matchmaking with potential contracting. And finally omwis efforts including collecting data from the diversity policies and practices of the banks we supervise. In 2015 rejoice in the publication of the policy for joint standards. This policy statement provides the framework for banks to complete selfassessment, encourages disclosure to the occ and to the public to keep awareness of the banks commitment to diversity. To encourage bank to submit the selfassessment we have collaborated with the other agencies. This year the banks will have until october to return their 2020 Self Assessments. I thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today and look forward to your questions. [background sounds] thank you. Ms. Clark, you are now recognized for five minutes to give an oral presentation on your testimony. Thank you. Chairwoman beatty, Ranking Member wagner, members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the Important Role of the office of minority women and occlusion of the Federal Reserve board. The board is deeply committed to an Inclusive Workplace and a Diverse Workforce. As well as fostering the purchase and own particular practices and those at the institution we regulate. Diverse perspectives in spite of best ideas, speak to the best decision and advance the Federal Reserve mission in service to the public. The board established its office of diversity and inclusion in january 2011 to promote Diversity Inclusion throughout the board, the system and in the Financial Services industry. I work closely throughout the board and the system with the other omwi directors of the 12 reserve banks recognizing the commitment of the board on these important issues is shared by the banks and their leadership. We administer and directs equal Employment Opportunity compliance policies and programs, and includes the office of minority and women inclusion. The boards omwi grid pursuant to section 342 of the doddfrank act develops standards, procedures and initiatives to ensure their inclusion of minorities, women, a minority owned and womenowned businesses, and all activities of the board as well as developing standards for assessing the diversity policies and practices of regulated entities. The boards out and submit an annual report to congress outlining its activities, successes and challenges. I will highlight key areas of this report. The board has made progress in increasing the level of diversity in Senior Leadership. In 2019 there were 1919 appointments of official staff of which ive women minorities and six were women. Currently there are 60 most efficient directors of which one is africanamerican. Eight Division Directors are male, of which one is hispanic. In addition there are three african americans, one hispanic, and three females who served as deputy directors in their respective division. Our staff engage with Division Leaders in measuring the progress against the boards Diversity Inclusion standards, objectives and actions. We will continue to address challenges with recruiting diverse candidates for financial analysts and economists, and strengthening the pipeline to senior staff levels. The Federal Reserve system continue to focus on increasing racial and ethnic gender and sectorial diversity, among reserve bank and branch directors. These boards function more effectively when they are constituted in a manner that encourages a variety of diverse perspectives. In 2020 approximate 75 of class c directors, those who are appointed by the board to represent the public, and 70 of class b directors, those elected by never banks who represent the public, are diverse in terms of race and ethnicity or gender. The board has made significant progress in the inclusion of minority owned and womenowned businesses, in the boards acquisition process. For example, 2019 contracts awarded to minority and womenowned businesses increased 9 over 2018. This was due in part to our engagement that focus on forging partnerships with minority and womenowned businesses. And also creating a database at the first suppliers and ensuring that a capability to offer services that meet the boards needs. In addition with respect to the boards of Capital Projects, we align minorityowned businesses with primetime contracted with subcontracting opportunities. The board has engaged in a wide range of Community Outreach events to increase Financial Literacy and help students [inaudible] for example, we facilitate Financial Literacy activities aimed at minorities and women to the boards Federal Reserve education outreach program. Board staff it, this will also participate in the American Economic association of summer programs which will be hosted by Howard University from 20212025. Additional details on the boards outrage is discussed in our annual report. We continue to strongly encourage the institutions we regulate to provide information for the diversity also practices and selfassessment. In the last two years regulated entities slightly increase the submission. However, we are not satisfied with the level of responsiveness on these entities. We continue to explore ways to facilitate greater participation, including two engagements with our colleagues and the regulated entities we appreciate the subcommittees interest in our work and we look forward to working with you to continue to advance our shared objects is the i will be glad to answer any questions. Thank you. Ms. Dingman, you are now recognized for five minutes to give an oral presentation on your testimony. Thank you. Chair beatty and Ranking Member wagner, i am a Human Resources officer and omwi director. My pronouns are she, her and her. Thank you for holding this hearing that works the crucial anniversary of the omwi provision in the doddfrank act and the concluding the Federal Reserve bank of new york. Estimate racism exists and persists process and continues to hinder Economic Advancement for too many americans. At the new york fed we believe that economic equality is a critical component for social justice and an inclusive and strong economy. I am proud and empowered to be a direct at institution that is dedicated to understanding and finding solutions to the inequality and inequity in our Federal Reserve district and the economy at large. Omwi represents more than a quarter of an organizational chart. It is instead a commitment to advancing women and Minority Community by all employees but is infused that the culture of inclusion of the new york fed. Where do we start we start with our people hear more than 3000 exemplary employees of the new york fed, as a to let you recruiting efforts provide us the opportunity to at 41 of new hires were women and 50 princes of whom were minority. We recruited a diverse intern class, 58 of whom were minorities as well. This is a striper diversity of board of directors which as of 2019 consisted of 45 minorities and 33 female and it are Leadership Team which carly includes 36 minorities minorities and 45 female. We know the needs of women and minorities are better served when decisionmaking includes them at the table and will continue our efforts to simplify our Leadership Team that is representative of the population we serve. Beyond our talented Employee Base we work to increase the number of women and minority owned firms to conduct business with the new york fed. Weve recently operationalize several of the facilities established by the Federal Reserve board to support the u. S. Economy in the wake of the covid19 pandemic. Aided by trade groups like the National Association of Security Professionals, we are working to diversify our business and vendor relationships under these facilities and open operations of the unique to nuke that there am excited to tell you later this week will be announcing new counterparty 80s relationships that will include minority women and veteran owned firms. Finally we deploy considerable resources of the new york fed when it comes to identify economic inequities by women and communities of color, and just as important to identify opportunities to bridge these gaps. Im so proud of the work by research and Community Outreach colleagues have brought to bear on the disparate impact of covid on minority communities. This work has increased in dedication and fervor since the pandemic struck. We help identify and support the Federal Reserve system responsive to workforce fell the needs and challenges during this crisis and reconvene community to help practitioners across a variety of issues to support efforts identify solutions for the most vulnerable. Reflecting and advancing our commitment to diversity and inclusion later this month the Congressional Black Caucus foundation will enter a segment on equitable economic recovery featuring our new york fed president john williams, a land that present and your colleague representative alma adams, emmanuel cleaver, Gregory Meeks and david scott. What i have highlighted constitutes just a fraction of the progress in your bed because of and inspired by the omwi provision in doddfrank of baden area of women and minority inclusion over the past ten years. We can acknowledge some progress, were not where we need to be. Theres a long way to go. We are steadfast about commitment to work for more equitable economy and society for all and we will double our efforts in pursuit of this mission. I am confident and determined we have been provided with impetus and tools to make a difference for those we serve in the community and to enhance the experience of all those who work at the new york fed. Thank you for the opportunity to meet with you today. I welcome your questions. Thank you very much. Ms. Pearson, you are now recognized for five minutes to give an oral presentation on your testimony. Chairwoman beatty, Ranking Member wagner, members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is nikita pearson, and two weeks ago i became acting director of the office of minority and women inclusion at the fdic. Before i discuss this important work of this office i would like to explain why this is not just another job for me. As a young black girl growing up in rural georgia, i often lived with my great aunt and uncle going to the jobs clean things. When his older ive been a member going mother to one of those same banks and watching tears down her face as the loan officer disrespectfully in niger loan application. Even as a child i knew what i was witnessing was wrong. The same tank that trusted by family with the keys to the bank would not link to my mother, at least deny the loan to compete. This is just one experienced acute among fdic recruiter came to Savannah State university, a historically black university, and spoke to my account a class about the mission of the fdic. As an fdic examiner i would have the opportunity to influence policies that would help people like my mom. Now as as a 22 year veteran ofe agency, with 17 years in examination workforce i understand the progress that fdic has made on Diversity Inclusion as well as the challenges we still face. Upon arrival in 2010, she made her values and expectations clear. We will not tolerate discrimination. We will ensure that the Banking System we supervise is safe and inclusive. And we will recruit, retain and advance a Diverse Workforce that is a reflection of the communities we serve. With these goals in mind we have implemented several initiatives to advance the work inclusion in a workforce, our business activity, and the banks we regulate. While my written statement provides greater detail, there are several initiatives weve recently taken that i would like to highlight. We have placed special emphasis on our Largest Group of employees commission banking families who make up about 50 of our workforce and occupies a significant number of leadership positions across the agency. To promote diversity at the fdic we must focus on our examiners. Our ability to attract and retain a Diverse Assembly workforce is affected by number of factors, the amount of travel, the impact of low turnover on prospects for career advancement. I have seen all of these challenges firsthand. The fdic has taken steps to address all of these issues come reforming our highly and create an executive Level Task Force to improve diversity and inclusion. Mandatory examiner training is now more efficient and it incorporates virtually. We have targeted recruiting outreach to minorities of visitations i like hbcus to build a more diverse pipeline. We are using technology to cut down the amount of time examiners are on the road in the wake of the families away from the family. We are expanding mentoring and creates the opportunity with improved paid parental leave and a student repayment program. These initiatives have proven successful. During a chairman steele arcs with 33 of our examiners hires have hires have been minority. Reversing a decadeslong trend. The agency is also increased diversity across Management Level provisions and chairman mac williams senior Leadership Team is diverse. Beyond the workforce with also diversified our supply chain to provide opportunities for minority and womenowned businesses and law firms. In 20 the fdic awarded 31 of all new awards to my door and womenowned businesses, and we paid nearly 11 billion minority and women owned law firms. We also promoted Diversity Inclusion across the Financial Services industry. We are encouraging fdic supervised banks report on their diversity and the taken numerous steps to make it easier for banks to file annual diversity report. We are sharing our finding from the selfassessment on a website and we have promoted best practices related to diversity and inclusion. The fdic has made Good Progress in fostering diversity and inclusion in these and other areas including support for Minority Depository Institutions, and efforts to promote Financial Inclusion. We also know that our work is far from complete. Chairman Matt Williams is deeply committed to these efforts and i am honored to serve the fdic as a omwi direct as her critical time in history thank you again for the opportunity to testify. I look forward to your question questions. Thank you very much. Ms. Davy, you are now recognize for five minutes to give an oral presentation on your testimony. Good afternoon, chairwoman beatty, Ranking Member wagner, chairwoman waters, Ranking Member mchenry, and members of the subcommittee. Thank you so much for this opportunity. Im looking forward to sharing with you efforts to ensure that ncua remains an agency diversity, equity and inclusion are often referred to as part of who we are and how we do business. The federal Credit Union Act doesnt make the chairman as the spokesperson for the ncua board and as Agency Representative and all official relations with other branches of government. I am here today in my official capacity as it directed to testify on agency policy. Section 342 of the doddfrank act has been a catalyst for Building Change in the diversity equity and inclusion space at the ncua. We are proud of the progress weve made over the last decade. However, this work takes longtime dedication and commitment. The ncua is fortunate to have a succession of leaders who are passionate about dni per cartridge having a Board Members are not just individually committed to this work but are collectively strong and unwavering in their support for these principles. Each of you have a copy of the 2019 report to congress. Today id like to highlight just three key messages. First, the ncua is committed to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion within the Credit Union System. Second, the ncua is taking concrete steps to improve key indicators within the Credit Union System. Third, the ncua believes a Diverse Workforce and Inclusive Work environment and a diverse supply chain make Good Business sense and we are equally committed to all three. Now on the first one about a commitment to promoting der. Let highlight just a few of the things we have done. Last year the ncua hosted its first annual dpi summit. It was the first event of its kind for the industry and attracted more than 150 attendees the summit will work to promote the value of dvi and Credit Unions can provide an opportunity for Credit Unions to share best practices and offer attendees a forum to discuss solutions to challenges. Interest has significantly grown following the summit. In fact, afterwards Industry Leaders came together with the ncua to form the credit union eei collective. This collective now serves as a resource to industry on all things related eei. On my second point let me highlight some of the concrete steps we are taking to improve dei metric. Following the 2019 summit, we saw a significant increase in voluntary selfassessment submitted. Though we want those numbers to improve, we have shown steady increases every year, which is promising. To help ensure an even greater participation, our board voted unanimously in july of this year to explore ways to incentivize participation. For example, the ncua is considering the viability of reducing the operating fees charged to Credit Unions thats a bit diversity selfassessment. Were serving Credit Unions now on that idea and we Hope Congress will support the agency in december. My final point, diversity and inclusion within the ncua. Importantly, we are seeing improvement in diversity within our leadership pipeline. For example, over the past five years racial and Ethnic Diversity in our Management Level staff, those in grades 13 through 15, the increased by more than five percentage points. During the same time, racial and Ethnic Diversity among our senior staff positions of increased almost 12 percentage points. At the end of 2019, 20 of ncua workforce belongs to one of our six Employee Resource Groups, which support our diverse employees and create a strong sense of belonging within the agency. Its also worth noting we are committed to Continuous Improvement with respect to supplier diversity. The agency awarded more than 40 of our total contract dollars to my door or womenowned businesses the past two years. I will also note that our awards to minorityowned businesses has improved by 15. 9 15. 9 percentae point over the last five years. In closing, the ncua is committed to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion within the agency, the Credit Union System, and the broader Financial Services sector. I look forward to answering any questions you may have for me. Thank you. Thank you, thank you to all of our witnesses. I now recognize myself for five minutes for questions. First question will go to ms. Clark, ms. Pearson and then ms. Davy and ms. Cofield. Ms. Clark and ms. Pearson, why do you believe youre regulated entity has failed to submit selfassessment . We have been really providing an opportunity for the institutions to do just that. We find that in several instances, that institutions were not sure of what information they needed to submit. But through the years we have been able to clarify and work with them on those types of information that would be very helpful and productive in addressing the issues within the Financial Services industry. It has been we have seen even this year out of the major Financial Institutions, more than 50 of them have submitted assessments this year, in addressing some of the areas that we have been focusing on like workforce, like the supplier diversity. Okay, thank you. Im going to go to ms. Pearson and i several question is i hate to cut people off but im sorry. And then ms. Davy and ms. Cofield. You had the highest level of responses to the selfassessment request. But fails short of the goals. Should the assessment processes the mandatory or regulated entities . Ms. Davy, ms. Cofield come to want to take the last and then will come back to you, ms. Pearson. One at a time, right . Are you with me . Thank you so much for the question. So the ncua would be willing to consider and provide Administrative Assistance to congress if they, in fact, make the selfassessment mandatory. Right now our agency has taken the position, our general counsel office, that they are not mandatory. Okay. Anyone else want to comment on that . Okay. Let me go to the next question. Diversity is a top priority for me. Ms. Dingman, can you present fight an update on your Business Diversity effort . Yes. Thank you for the question, cherub 80. Weve been working extensively to build more relationships with the minority women and veteran businesses temerity of especiay in the Second District. As i i mentioned in my oral statement one of the things were most proud of is the recent work we have done with National Association Security Professionals and later this week will be announcing additional counterparty relationships as well as relationship with minority women and veteran businesses. This is an ongoing effort and one we have to continue to go after because we realize how important it is that the business is imperative. Thank you. To all of the witnesses, are you familiar with the letter that came from the omb director where he made reference to this letter and i dont know you can see, but i would like to enter it in the record. Without objection i will allow it to be in the record. Do you believe in any way through any of your training or diversity and inclusion that you have stated or believe that all white people contribute to racism or benefit from racism as he had said in this letter where they are asking for us to stop all training . And i can be a yes or no. We will just go right down the panel. Ms. Clark, ms. Pearson, ms. Davy, you know who you are. Yes or no, please. This is Joyce Cofield. We absolutely do not have training that in any way contributes to divisive language like that. Hanky, ms. Cofield. Ms. Pearson, ms. Davy, ms. We heard from Joyce Cofield. I assume you do do it. This is ms. Clark. I would say the Federal Reserve can we in no way at any training that includes the all white people ms. Davy, ms. Dingman . At the Federal Reserve board no, we do not have divisive language in our training. Okay. Anyone else, yes or no . Our trend does not include that. Artery is to educate and not alienate anyone. Thank you so much, my time is up and i yield back. I will now go to our Ranking Member, congresswoman wagner, for five minutes for questions. Thank you, madam chair. Ms. Cofield, you served as executive director of the occ hes omwi since the office was established in 2010. I would love to hear from you what has been the most significant challenges that you and your office have faced with respect to recruiting and retaining women and minorities . Ms. Cofield. Thank you. Similar to the fdic statement earlier, examiners our largest population in the occ and maintaining a firm pipeline of diverse candidates and diverse employees, within or examine ranks is her biggest challenge. So from the standpoint of examination, it really is a very long training time. Come and because i think distracting to me people as they think about a career. So we spend a lot of time in terms of marketing the examiner role at occ and seeing the kinds of work that is involved in it, but it becomes difficult i think based on travel and based on the amount of time that needs to be invested into doing their jobs. But others can see themselves in that role. In addition to the training time. Mike is very long. It takes five years at occ to get there. You have to really build an incentive around whats possible in this career. Thats been our most challenging piece. Let me ask you, five years, how do you address those challenges . And are there any challenges you are facing right now . So weve been trying to Pay Attention to this a lot over the years one of the ares that helps us a lot is if our Employee Network group that offer up opportunities for their constituents to not only get support relative to being knowledgeable to where opportunities both promotions and new Job Opportunities as well as basic developmental opportunities within the organization, but they have support structures built into mentoring and coaching each other and keeping each other informed in terms of activities in the agency that would be important to them and their careers. Asked to americas main system is very important to me. With millions of Americans Still under banked, how will project reach specifically healthcare . When we are focusing on convening players here relative to the banking world, the leadership relative to civil rights and are committed to activist groups, technology organizations, businesses sort of generally, in terms of looking at and trying to identify the barriers that are then in play relative to solicitation and our economy again, the main piece here is focusing around resolution. Its looking at three months to six months kinds of activity that can be organized to make a difference relative to that process so again the main issue is not process, its resolution oriented. Thank you and miss damon in your testimony you mentioned new york said 10 Resource Networks. Are those similar to an Employee Resource Group and could you explain the differences in these Resource Networks and how they are proving to be effective at increasing the rate of retention for women and minorities within the new york containment. Thank you for that question. The employee Resource Networks are very much the same as what you would expect in the federalspace. We have 10 of them as you highlight and they have been active so much so that we have 1500 employees who participate. At over half hour our organization and they bring a variety of programs and last year alone we had 50 programs that help with building inclusion within the organization and also spotlighted a series of issues that were affecting those communities so we see them as integral. Thats terrific and i have to tell you those First Networks are something we are seeing both in the private and certainly in our federal financial regulators system and its something thats very positive. I have run out of time and i thank you all again for your interest and testimony today and not achair , i feel that. Thank you madam ranking and the chair recognizes the distinguished chairwoman of the Financial Services committee , california, congresswoman and chairwoman Maxine Waters. Thank you very much. Id like to direct my first question to miss mcpherson. When you get off a set on improvement for example in the hiring of minorities and women, and like to know can you break that down to tell us how many africanamericans , how many asians, how many latin, how do you , the break that down and could you tell us if we can access that information from you. Yes we do break that down and that we can get that information. I do not have all the details here with me as far as the new hiring. I do have that 33 percent then minority and if you look at our total workforce today. 30 percent of our workforce is all minorities thats about, we have increased that representation right. Im interested in knowing exactly how many africanamericans, how many asians, howeverthose in the protected classes. Do you have that information. I have some of that here with me and ill be happy to get the message with you. There is 17 percent black workforce, four percent latin and 45 percent women and some of the othergroups id be happy to make sure that we get that information to you. Andwe speak about women , facing the breakdown of protected classes among that group. I do not have that with me but ill be happy to makesure we get back to you. You very much. I guess while i have you i want to ask you about another access of always, im very appreciativefor the information on hiring. I know theres a lot of information about contracting. Thats sounds a little fair and i think that would be ms. Clark, ms. Clark can you hear me and give me an example of the kind of contract that has gone to minorities. Thank you congresswoman, chair waters. Various contracts have gone to minority and women owned businesses. Right now the majority of our contracts are in Capital Projects and so we have unable robust outreach to encourage minority owned businesses particularly to have meetings and connect with primetime customers around the projects that we currently have we have major contracts on the professional side. Of services that we are acquiring area and in that regard most of the contractors are minority women ownedbusinesses. Id like to get a voicemail on the kinds of contracts that you have been able to assist at the fed. I have no idea whether its again youre referring to your capital possibilities or contracts there but id like to know all of the areas in order to have minorities there that are getting contracts. As you can get that information to us later on. Im happy to provide. My time is done. Thank you. Back to the fdic. Ive always been concerned about what happens with our small banks in particular. It seems to me there has been increasingly over the years a number of small banks that have failed and they have been taken over by the fdic. Have any of those banks acquired by minorities fdic . I do not have the specific acquisition information but what i can tell you is that if there is a small institution, particularly if its a minority ipod depository that we base our policy statement to find bidders who are also Minority Depository Institutions before we open up to the bigger process. Have you been successful in any acquisitions of minorities of failed banks or when youre putting them back on the market. Yes we have been successful and ill be happy to get you the details if you would like. I would appreciate that and area and if i still have time, to miss comptroller , if you can make that contract, what kind of contract have you been able to assist minorities with . Across the board generally its very high relative to it. That was to the 60 percent of our contracting businesses in the it arena and weve been successful with minority contractors in that space. Id like to get that information from you to help understand exactly what businesses have been successful and what we can do to do outreach of the businesses who perhaps would be eligible for other kinds of contracts who may not be responsible for the proposal in any way so with that i yelled back balance of my time madam chair. Thank you very much. The chair now recognizes the distinguished gentleman from oklahoma, congressman lucas or five minutes of questions. Thank you madam chair for holding this hearing. On how we can achieve a more diverseworkforce in the banking and Financial Services sector. One of the big challenges if not the most major challenge in the Financial Services industry is finding diverse qualified applicants. So id like to put this question to the entire panel. What Financial Literacy and education initiatives are your respective organizations involved in illustrate the students that the potential careers inthe financial sector. So that they can prepare themselves for the opportunity that exists and i asked the whole panelthat question. We became really clear that preparing students even at the College Level was difficult in terms of bad Financial Literacyinformation. For two years ago now we began a Internship Program in our local high schools here in the city of washington. That program is in the second year this year. Weve hundred students that participated in that and because of that specifically oriented around financial regulation. Anyone else . We are several programs that are geared to encouraging and educating and providing information on the kind of jobs we have. We work closely with a lot of the hbcus, the hispanic institutions and also participate in an initiative that was started in chicago which is called the Pipeline Initiative which is partnering with major banking and Financial Service companies to basically establish relationships for mentoring and coaching or College Students who are interested in finance and bringing them in to the organization to do rotation assignments, to do also some internships and wemonitored that closely and we stay engaged with those students. We participate in the American Economic Association Summer program i had mentioned previously in order to not only encourage students to stay in the economic sphere but also to provide them support in advancing their education. This is monica davey with the National Credit Union Administration. Like the other agencies mentioned we have three different types of intern programs, one is a High School Program we participated in with oct and we have a Pathways Program as well as a program that focuses onbringing in minorities in city agencies. We are sure to make sure we provide Financial Inclusion as part of their education. We also have on our website my credit union provides time of initial inclusion education. I giving specifically to children and also we participate with the africanamerican credit union coalition. There is a conference every year where they have a Financial Inclusion fair where students are brought through, given jobs, given a budget and they learn how to spend money on Different Things likepaying bills. Thank you. Representative lucas this is lainey damons, in addition to the injuries of programs that my colleagues mentioned we have robust Financial Literacy program and our Outreach Team does and last year we reached out thousands of students as well as educators to our economic Pedagogy Program as well as our comic book series where we find Financial Literacy is very important or the Second District in new york area. Congressman lucas i want to thank you for tying those two together. Just the recruitment and Financial Literacy and i remember when i started at Savannah State walking down the commons areathe first thing i see is a bunch of different credit card companies. Trying to reel me in so when our recruiters to the different universities, the one thing we do and an intentional effort that we dont just tell them about the jobs we have, we talk about our severances and we have resume writing and we talk about Financial Literacy and really make sure that we prepare with the market interviews, we prepare the students they can be successful whenthey compete. The reason i brought this up as we create copper opportunities for people to live up to their potential. I have to know those opportunities exist. Thatswhy these programs are so critical. And with that madam chairman my time has expired and ideal back. You very much. Now it is my honor to go to the distinguished gentleman from missouri, congressman clay. Thank you so much madam chair and let me also thank you and my friend and neighbor for banking member wagner for conducting this hearing today. I think its so important that we examine this subject and doctor chris brahmers recent work entitled what do the data reveal about absence of black financial regulators. Found a critical lack of black people among appointees and seeing senior policy. Staff at the financial regulatory statements. According to the analysis, only 10 of 300 and 70 five, 79 employees have been black. Only 520 solo senior policy staff was in the position are currently held by africanamericans at the agency. The report concludedwhen black people are included , from these high posts in the financial regulatory agencies , black voices are muted and do not have a say in outcomes that affect their ability to be fully included in the economy this, these two questions are to all panelists area for the lack of diversity in these senior levels, what else do can we do to ensure the Minority Community is not overlooked by their agencies consider new rules and regulations and what measures do your officers take to review diversity within promoting and hiring senior staff so two questions. What else do you all do and then how do you all impact hiring and promoting of senior staff. We can start withmiss 80 and go down the line. Thank you so much for that . The first say we are proud at the end you see a to have chairman hood who is the first africanamerican head of our Banking Regulatory Agency and he is extremely committed to making sure that we examine our processes. Of policies, our systems to remove any barriers that exist are africanamericans to proceed up in the career pipeline. We are extremely committed to making sure we have mentoring, employee asked for mentor no matter what their grade is, were sure to make sure that employee has a mentor. Were looking at our examiner series because the percent of our workforceare examiners. So it africanamericans or any other Minority Group are not succeeding for that career pipeline, are not going to achieve the diversity results that we want to within the past year we forked with opm to really look at our examiners series and look at how employees are able to processthrough. Weve looked at these exams , the examiners have to take to vote from grade 11 to grade 12 to make sure if there are any barriers there that are not completely visible to us that we remove them and address them. And i am proud of that work that weve done. Let me get to the rest of the panel. Thank you. Miss pearson, how do we overcome the challenges . Some of the things weve done at fdic, weve engaged the hiring manager and we have frank conversations about what the needs are and then along with our hr office we also partner with how we advertise when we go out to events we dont talk about marketing and threelevel positions, we also now talk about our higher level positions will be available and in addition to that were in the process of editing our merit promotion process. And so with that policy we have been involved in looking with that policy make sure we downplay i any unintended barriers. We also have some new corporate wide dissection planning that were working on. We have a new leadership Development Program and we identify high performing people to pull them into that program. We also have a special Assistance Program where individuals who may not have had an opportunity to work with the chairman of the office level after exposure and that awareness and then were also taking the time to look at our processes , evaluating and identify and eliminate any barriers that we have and that way we can make sure that senior Leadership Team is diverse and inclusive and represents the communities that we serve. Thank you miss pearson, miss dingman can you weigh in onthe question . Like my colleagues we have similar processes in place and we utilize seven different search factors for diversity outreach efforts and many of them are minority Women Veterans businesses and in addition we also ensure that you are your recruitment efforts, we make sure that as part of the process we remove as unclassified as possible to a rigorous set of processes and programs that we have an overall i feel like we are very much doing our part to try and raise awareness for the hiring managers that we continue our diversecandidates. Thank you for your response and my time is up. Chairwoman now recognizes the distinguished gentleman from ohio. Congressman gonzales for five minutes forquestions. Thank you chairwoman beatty and its good to see you as always and thank you everybody for being here today. This important hearing. Miss pearson i want to start with you. For a couple of questions. I was struck by your personal stories a little bit of background before i get this job i was a professional Football Player in a prior life and you sort of described growing up more in the south, black woman and how difficult journey can be but you talk about how in your Work Experience has helped you sort of not just professionally but in terms of sort of overcoming many of these barriers area when you describe that it resonates with me becauseyou sort of describe a lot of my teammates. They were men similar growing up poor, black and in the south. My question is and maybe its beyond the scope of this Committee Even but how do we get more people to travel the distance that you did area a professional distance to go from difficult circumstances to where we can overcome barriers and really just power through some of these incredibly difficult obstacles that we have in our society today. Id love tohear your perspective on. So the first thing is to be intentional. There are more out there in the world and that are a lot better than i am so be purposeful and go to the historically black colleges. Go to other minorities institutions and recruit them and let them be prepared to be successful. Once you get these individuals on board myself, make us feel included and when i say make us feel included, that we have opportunities that we have opportunities to engage as far as like with employee resources where no matter where youre particularly located the fdic has been in our mentoring programs. I was in our executive potential program, the fdic paper graduate school of banking i went to harvard so really having that Career Development, i had both formal and informal mentors at the fdic. So and then there were a number of different career paths or where i wanted to take. Not only was there recruitment where my recruits recruited me from Savannah State. They didnt stop once icame on board. They called me regularly. They checked in on me to see how i was doing. When i got on the job i had a coachassigned to help me with my commissioning process. I had Career Development opportunity and then they gave me the opportunity to do like the work im doing now. I go back to Savannah State university when i can to do recruiting and identify others and share my different perspectives that may be valuable in saying this may look like that to you but that is a rising star right there and i can see it because i was that person. Thats powerful, thankyou for sharing that. One of the issues we encountered through the pandemic is getting capital into the hands of Small Businesses. And particularly minority owned businesses. Can you share your perspective on how minority owned businesses were able to Access Capital from Financial Institutions and what we could have done better so im trying to understand that we made some progress but what did the stars do and how can we sort of pass those onto the rest of the financial communities . I want to make sure i get your question. Your question is more focused on getting capital into the hands ofSmall Businesses, minority owned businesses. Okay. One of the first things is developing a relationship. When relationships going in, getting to know your bank at fdic we not only have a Community Bank Advisory Committee , we established a Minority Depository Institution subcommittee and the reason i bring that up is because Minority Depository Institutions serve their communities. Not just with the bigelow but they are probably the biggest lender or one of the big lenders for Small Business loans in minority owned communities. They know their communities so our support has been how can we work more closely with institutions like Minority Depository Institutions to help serve their communities. I only have 20 seconds so ill yield back but thank you madam chair thank you miss pearson. Thank you very much and the chair now recognizes the distinguished gentleman from texas and the chairman of oversight investigation. Congressman graham. Is congressman seated . Im seated and unmute it. Thank you very much. Thank you for posting the hearing today and the Ranking Member as well read especially i want to thank the chair of the full committee. And i do this because the question i have to say this during his long overdue but its timely. Its timely in the sense that on september 5, i had intelligence indicating President Trump had banned diversity training and it seems to be calling it antiamerican. It seems to be saying that such training only fosters resentment in the workplace. That is pretty strong language. Given that we know the role of the only is to create forums where employees can have candid, courageous and Safe Conversations about the impacts of discrimination in theirpersonal and Work Experiences. This causes me a good deal of concern so let me just ask you miss pearson to quickly tell me do you provide such training at your agency and can you just give me some indication as to what the benefits of these trainings, this training is that relates to your staff. We do provide training on Diversity Inclusion and our purpose like i said earlier, our purpose in ourtraining is to educate and not alienate. We have to meet people where they are, people bring different needs and perspectives and we need to meet together where we are. Then we moveforward and we move forward together. That means sometimes the conversations are a little uncomfortable but we learn and we grow and we move forward and the feedback that weve received from employees is that they appreciate the training that we have. They appreciate the opportunity to share their stories read other folks appreciate the opportunity to share different perspectives and we all feel that this is a good thing for us area. But they quickly talk to all the members of the panel because ordinarily i would simply have you raise your hands but given the environment were in, let me ask you miss cofield quickly to you believe that this is the american thing to do that this kind of training is appropriate for your workplace. And can you give me a simple yes, sir no . I think its quite appropriate yes. Missed clark. I also feel that is quite appropriate area. Missing. I agree aswell. Miss beatty. I agree as well. I also would want to call this tothe attention of my colleagues. This is evidence of why we need hr 8160, the bill that promotes diversity and inclusion in banking. This is important because we have evidence now that the president will do what he can to thwart the efforts of something that has been the law for many years now , not frank into being under the leadership of Maxine Waters area this kind of effort to thwart what we are trying to do which is constitutional which is american should not be allowed. And this bill would actually require the regulators to examine Financial Inclusion and diversity and inclusion. So im actually saddened by what the president has done but its evidence of what must be done. So im going to bed my colleagues to please examine this bill hr 8160 because clearly if we dont have this enacted into law, this motion that we can at least do what the constitution says we should do by virtue of many sections of it, i wont go into them right now but that is to try to become an america where everybody is treated equally. Equality under the law area im very much disturbed by what the president has done rid asked one additional question i have in the past about how some 70 percent of the executive Level Community positions have certain certain banks are held by men. Some 70 percent. That means obviously about 30 percent of the positions are held by women. In a country where more than 50 percent of the people are women, it just seems to me that this is further evidence of the need for we ask each of you again to tell me with the two seconds i have left, tell me quickly about your beliefs in terms of what women bring to the workplace. Do women bring value to the workplace such that we ought to have them give us their opinions by way of being a part of the workforce . Miss cofield. Yes. Missed clark. Mostdefinitely. Missed dingman. Yes. Missed davies. Yes. I yield back. Thank you congressman and the chair recognizes the distinguished member from wisconsin, congressman feel. Thank you very much chairwoman, appreciate you holding todays hearing and appreciate all of our panelists for being on to discuss what an important topic, how do we create a more Perfect Union and get the inclusion and make sure everyone has a seat at the table. I have the opportunity to read the testimony and i wanted to ask you miss pearson, in particular we hear a lot about the difficulty on the recruiting side of getting underrepresented minorities into and at the table. And i wanted just to dive in with you in some of the things your organization is doing in particular as it relates to the mentor ship side of this. We talk a lot about the need to make sure underrepresented minorities, women have that network that they can rely on to be able to get back into the table and what youve been doing in particular as it relates to the internal process of the mentor ship program. Of some of these groups. Miss pearson. Thank you for that question. At the fdic we have a variety of different ways both formal and informal for those mentoring opportunities. Our first thought was informal. I talked to you how they recruited me out of college, still served as an informal mentor. A major i was progressing and on the formal side of the fdic and also a variety of different ways. If you are a staff level employee you can be involved in our mentor and program where youre applying to be a more Senior Leader and you develop a leadership plan and in addition we have a specific plan for leaders. We have our leadership mentoring plans where managers can be partnered with more senior managers for their development. If you have an interest in becoming a leader you also have a program for emerging leaders where you can seek coaching and in addition we are now focused on some of our more Senior Leadership opportunities where we can take individual that we identify are highperforming and partner them with specific assignments and higher levels that they may not normally get an opportunity to be exposed to because that awareness, all those things help contribute to the success factors and it did for me. Thank you miss pearson and in the limited time i have here im going to ask miss Cofield Cofield and ms. Clark, youve heard about these 50,000 feet discount discussing some of the strategies and id love for each of you to talk about a specific story where this has been impactful. Sometimes when we talk about this as an individual helps us on the committee and those watching better understand the work being done so if you have a story on that miss cofield i love to hear how that played out in a practical way for an individual that benefited by some of the strategies youve employed at the occ. I can think of really cases but particularly this year, last year has actually dive down into our area analysis because what we were seeing was a low Participation Rate of hispanics in our Organization Even though we were hiring at the labor force where we know this was a did not stay on board. They did not stay with us from a retention standpoint. No weve done what we call a hispanic area analysis and out of that we had an opportunity to gain information through focus Group Activities and what we learn is so much involved in terms of what the employees experiences like no not only were we to get the numbers to get them looking at the movements from one job to another , promotion opportunities, we got to hear the stories from hispanics themselves in terms of how life and the kinds of things that were supported to them and the kinds of things that actually ended up being barriers to them. Thank you very much. With a limited time of going to try to jump to ms. Clark if you have a story where it personifies this that would be terrific for all ofus. Thank you very much. One of the ways i use myself, ive been working since i was 16 years old. A couple of decades in there. I have been in business and i came to the Federal Reserve board fromthe private sector. Andimmediately , i received a mentor who basically helped guide me through the culture of the organization which i think is critical and also enable me to have an opportunity to understand what it was i needed to do as an individual to be successful within the organization. We continue having had that experience i am more than willing to support anyone who has an interest and also provide them with resources to achieve their goals. The board continues to do that today. Thank you very much list ms. Clark and looking at the time i will yield back. The chairwoman now recognizes the distinguished gentleman from florida, congressman lawson for five minutes for questions. Thank you chairwoman baby and Ranking Member wagner area for posting this hearing today. We are now on the tip fifth anniversary of. Frank. And one of the things that we found across the financial regulatory agency, africanamerican employees generally receive lower homeless rates than white employees. This is, since this has been prevalent and we are aware of it , what progress is and practices and i heard you all talk about mentors and so forth that have been implemented to relieve some of the values and your Performance Reviewprocess. That may have caused those performance areas and what then has your agency corrected since the Committee Review in 2015 . So if i could just go down the line and maybe have you know one after the other. Cucumbers and lawson. One of the things board has done, by an annual basis we review all of our performance ratings. I am involved in the process. We look to see if there are any outliers in the way in which people are being evaluated on the criteria or they reestablished around the competency and performance that is needed. Once we review those performance ratings we have discussions where there are issues that we had discussions with the divisions in which those issues persist in and we work to find out exactly what is being done to make sure that everyone is treated on an equal Playing Field and that the evaluations are done fairly and equitably and we do this annually we identify barriers. And then we also are engaged in making sure that people understand what the level of expectations are and that discrimination or any allegations that is prohibited to one advancing of self withinthe organization is needed. Next area. Thank you so much. One of the things we do besides reviewing our performance evaluations to make sure that there is consistency. We also make sure that in our mentoring program we call it mentoring across differences and we try to make sure when people get mentors that they get someone outside of their group. To make sure people have exposure to other people read thats one of the really good ways you can break down unconscious biases. We make sure resource at their executive sponsors for people that are not part of those groups. We do very focused training on unconscious bias because we know unconsciousbias can come into play when doing performance evaluations so those are things we do that would help deal with that issue. This is astoria cofield and not the similar at all from what my colleagues have offered up we also are unconscious bias trainings specifically with managers dive down into the consequences of bias within our processes and our performanceprocesses, one of those that we highlight. So we are consciously not only making sure that theres training in this show them how they use this in their everyday process in and of itself. In addition we provide past performance ratings to managers prior to the Upcoming Administration so they can see what their trends and the performances look like in the past and they can see their own reflection in terms of whether or not the things they need to consider differently. Missed pearson. At the fdic like my colleagues we also provide training to our managers and we have a robust review process. The part that i would like to add that i dont think ive heard yet is that we also train our employees and managers on the rating process and we provide opportunities for our employees to know how to put their best foot forward and so when they are providing information and feedback to their managers, how can they explain information in a way to make sure that their best foot is forward so in addition to the training that we do and in addition to the process we also make sure our employees are prepared and all those things Work Together to make sure wereach a fair and equitable process. I think we have one. Like my colleagues we do similar processes and i know were out of time that i would say we also focused extensively on training as well as how do we ensure that the process is straight through and evaluating those ratings every year to make sure there is no unconscious bias that we mitigate unconsciousbias in the process. Document care and ill print out the time and with that i yield back. The chair now recognizes the distinguished dental lady from texas, congresswoman garcia for five minutes for questions. Im doing it from a cell phone, can youll hear me . We can hear you and see you. Great. At least two things will make it workthank you so much chairwoman for this. Two things in this topic that are so important, and i wanted to start with this, the missed bingham from new york. Humans and a lot of the outreach and a lot of the programs that new york is doing what is in your judgment the best tool that you all have and others should use as a best practice to ensure that there is full participation from all the protected classes. I know ive heard from someone mentioned that they had an issue with retention of dinos so youre from new york and have a lot of robust latino population, what is it you may be doing that you might be able to share that would help recruit and retain latinos in yourorganization . Thank you representative garcia and in regards to the Second District we have a strong hispanic population and we work very hard to try and recruit in hispanics. Unfortunately we have not had the level of success we would like to see that we continue to work to have in our recruitment processes diverse ways and five make sure theres a variety of different beliefs coming to the table for each position that we consider and so i would say thats the key to continue to go after that as well as building robust relationships with outside organizations that can help fill that pipeline so i think like many of my colleagues we have a robust Relationship Management that we do with a variety of different hispanic and africanamerican associations that help usfill our pipeline. Is daily for you, im following up with that area in particular challenges in your organization with not only outreach programs for all the groups but also perhaps for any language barriers or different policies for example for our seniors to make sure that they feel theyre included and that they use one of their institutions that they are not only people that look like them also like them area. But you two parts, first internally we make sure that we are recruiting from hispanic serving organizations and pools. I think one of the biggest impacts that has had on on our organization isthe creation of our hispanic resources. Coulter out. That group is involved in recruiting coming up with recruiting strategies and they also involve themselves in translation needs that we may have as an agency and with the Credit Union System its extremely important that our Credit Unions are inclusive, that they look at their products and services to make sure theyre offering products and services in different languages and i think that has had a huge impact in our Minority Depository Institutions and Credit Union Space and making sure they have representation area on their power lines, on their board and on their management teams that reflect the community that they serve area. Ms. Clark, i wanted to ask you to talk about a lot of your numbers, the programs you might have. The Biggest Issue that i see with all these programs. Used to be dealt with all kinds of Financial Services groups, particularly banking and the biggest toughest thing is compliance. I mean, we can write all these rules. You can make it mandatory and it can be selfpossessed, whether it can be imposed. The real question of the matter is how do we make these companies and how do we make your systems comply . What would be your recommendation to congress on what we could do for better compliance . Congressman garcia are you addressing compliance for the entity that we regulate or seeking compliance in that regard western mark. Yes maam. I think it will be up to the congressional members in congress to put forth what they feel is necessary in order to have these institutions be compliant. What would make it easier for you to help with compliance and again, as we switch fromvoluntary to mandatory we still have to make people do it. I think what would be helpful as i think the more information we are able to receive and know what the practices are, the institutions that we regulate, the better we are able to serve the intention of the legislation that was issued. I believe that continued dialogue and meeting and reimbursing with each other and being intentional on the things that we do would make it much more successful. Thank you chairman beatty and ive run out of time. The chair now recognizes the distinguished gentleman from pennsylvania, congresswoman dean for five minutes for questions. I think im on muted thank you for holding this hearing. Im delighted to be here with you. So i wanted to first quickly ask a followup to the question that representative greene asked about the news reporting of september 5 that the Trump Administration had instructed federal agencies to end Racial Sensitivity Training and that was followed by an omb mailing to federal agencies but i wanted to ask just a yes, sirno and we will go down right down the line. Prior to the omb notice , or after as the Trump Administration asked your agency to stop diverse city and sensitivity training . If i could start with miss cofield. Im not aware of that. Thank you, ms. Clark. Im not aware also. Ms. Dingman. Not that im aware of. And mister pearson. Not that im aware of. And misty. Not that im aware of. I appreciate that. So much of the information youre talking about and the good work youre doing, revolves around who wehire. And so one of the things that we know , that weve learned of the importance of divers hiring panels to ensure that a large range of perspectives are offered when evaluating potential employees reedit we know that hiring committees and panels with little to no diversity can bring bias even unintended bias if everybody looks the same, everybody has a similarbackground and experience , there will be necessarily some builtin bias. In the review of applicants read to that and ill go through each of you again , in terms of divers hiring panels what is your agency doing to ensure that miss cofield please. So we have a general rule are panels are diverse and in fact that our objective committee we actually check in with you each other on a regular basis as decisions are mailed made as to selections of what the diversity of the panel is and give each other feedback as to whether or not the concept of diversity is the intent of that diversity is in fact real so the diversity of the panel is a very important critical issue relative to the Selection Process at occ. And it must be intentional , absolutely right. Ms. Clark. The Federal Reserve board we also have a process by which the recruitment process enables people to potential attend training on bias and the recruiting process. We have diverse panels for all our physicians particularly on official bands. I am involved in the process and i am in the process so that i can determine whether or not we are being inclusive , not only from those who are being interviewers but also the folks who have the support so that is a regular part of our process overall, diversity is key. Thank you very much and miss you or the state of new york. We also have a diverse paddling process similar to my colleagues. We ensure that we have several panels participate in each of our hiring selections and then we review those metrics after the process is concluded to make sure we have maintained that process and in its entirety so we feellike that has helped us in mitigating unconscious bias. Is that in your practice . It has been a practice since my your friend here at the bank but i would say its beenlong before my time. Ms. Pearson. We do recommend the best practice of having diverse panels and in addition we provide unconscious bias for our hiring managers and the very thing that we do is electing official but theres also a review process where theres a proven review to that particular selectionfor our Job Opportunities. And stds. At the ncua we have a policy of whenever possible that there be the inclusion of a minority for women representation. Im glad to hear all of that. Did you know that in order to be successful at recognizing and hiring in diverse ways we have to be intentional. We have to critically examine who is, who are applicants, who is in the pipeline but also who is reviewing so i thank you all for your leadership therean ideal back the remainder of my time. Thank you very much and id like to thank all of our witnesses for their testimony today and without objection all members will have five legislative days to in which to submit additional written questions for the witnesses to provide to the chair which will be ported to the witnesses for their response and i ask our witnesses please respond as promptly as you are able. The committee will now stand in recess for no longer than five minutes and as we transition to our second panel of witnesses. Thank you reedit. The president holding an event at the white house on that labor day talking about a variety of issues, matters of the military coming up before it headline reads as the president rips into us military leaders and insists that soldiers love him. The whole event at cspan. Org but heres a portion from yesterday. Biting shipped away our jobs, through open our borders and sent our youth to fight in these crazy endless wars and its one ofthe reasons the military, im not saying the military is in love with me, the soldiers are. The people in the pentagon probably are because they want to do nothing but fight wars though all of those wonderful pennies the bombs to make the planes and make Everything Else stayhappy. But were getting out of endless wars, you know how were doing. We defeated 100 percent of the isis caliphate. 100 percent. When i came in it was a mess reedit was all over. A habit in a certain color, all isis. A year later, i said where is it, its all gone sir because of you, itsall gone. Because of my philosophy is all gone. I said thats good, lets bring our soldiers back home area again. That President Trumpfrom yesterday and while he was in harrisburg pennsylvania it was joe biden. The aflcio participate in an online event of his leader and members of that union. The topic of the military coming up so heres joe biden from yesterday. Is out of touch is from languages , when it comes to veterans, hes downright unamerican area ive never said that about the president ever. But calling those who have served, risked their lives and even gave their lives losers andsuckers , these are heroes. Ill tell you something, my vote wasnt a loser area or a sucker. He spent six months in cozumel as assistant us attorney. Trying to make sure that they had a criminal justice system. The only foreigner who has a 12 foot statue erected to him, a memorial because of what he did. Inclusive oh. Then he volunteered, he was attorney general and had to get special permission to volunteer to go with his unit to iraq for one solid year. The simple truth is if that is how you talk about our veterans you have no business being president of the United States of america. There were two topics of military related concern for it we are asking you about military issues overall about who your choice would be and who is better on these type of issues but if you are active or retired military, 202 7488000, if you support biden harris, 202 7488001 and if you support trump or tense call 2 022 7488002 experts on military policy anticipate that depending on who wins the election there would be differences in that style and substance while the pentagon policies under the future trump or Biden Administration would likely diverge on social issues like transgender troops or naming military bases after confederate generals they would likely coalesce around the top challenge facing the United States, china. This story and adding the guiding thought since 2018 is a formulated secretary matus that identifies chinas americas printable adversary and that is likely to carry over to the next administration no matter who is in charge of the American Enterprise institute. More on those different differences that we will highlight. Starting off with calls on military matters and veterans on these issues leesburg, virginia, tom supporter of joe biden. When it comes to military why do you think that the candidate biden is better . Caller i think he has lived it with his family and with all the things he had to deal with when he was vice president. I think trump has been in a bubble since his youth and he did not serve and went to some kind of military school which is a lot of marching around but i also think that he had to disregard and a disrespect for, not only the people in the field but the generals and just the way he dealt with some of the departures with these generals that were serving his administration was totally disrespectful and you know, i have six uncles in world war ii, six and i had a grandfather that was in world war i that he got gassed in europe so this guy to call people losers i think he is a loser but im not voting for him. I think hes a disgrace to this country and hes not helping the veterans. Host that is tom in leesburg. We go to william in orange park, florida. A supporter of President Trump. Talking about military issues but william, go ahead. Caller first i was in from 19651969. Biden is a loser but i will tell you what my life has been in medical now for 20 years and she says biden is in his second stages of dementia. He cant stand for more than ten minutes. Host aside from that to the topic of military issues why do you think the president is better on this issue . Caller hes got better generals around him. Hes got people that know what they are doing and i will tell you what, ive got friends still in the military and they say they would not be having it as good as it was right now if it wasnt for trump. Host so when he says members of the leadership may not like him but soldiers love him is that something you agree with . Caller who said that . Host he said that yesterday. Caller who, mr. Trump . Host yes. Caller the soldiers love him. Host he said that but the military leadership might not be in love with him or not like him to that effect. Caller of course not they are all trying to get their own star. Host we will go to steve, william, go ahead. Caller all the generals in the field, not all of them, [inaudible] host i did not say all of them. He characterized himself and you could see those comments on cspan steven houston, texas and supporter of joe biden hello. Caller absolutely i will be voting for big joe biden. Satan trump is a bone spur and im 65 white male, College Graduate and i had to register for the draft when i was in high school and ill never forget it and my draft number was in vietnam and he was a captain in vietnam and he said it was a hellhole and a disaster and i would not vote for a draft dodging so they better address these [inaudible] host but you probably heard that joe biden himself received military deferment. Caller i dont well i dont care what biden got. Host why does it matter for one candidate but not the other . Caller because trump is a lying, stinking treat, draft dodging terrorists. I want him gone. Host okay, george and virginia. Member of active military. George, hello or unless im financing a wrong. Is it jorge . Im sorry. Caller yes. I wasnt active duty marine right after 911 and i was worked under george bush and i currently serve in the virginia guard under President Trump. Im an Ardent Supporter of President Trump. He is done more for the rank and file soldiers than any commander ever could. He has been a fantastic man for us at this level and he has done great things with the military was decimated after almost 20 years of constant war. I certainly stand with President Trump. I think hes a moral man and done great things for all americans, not just witnesses are the director of the office of minority and women inclusion of the United States department of the treasury. And we have the director of Office Minority and women inclusion of the securities and exchange commission. Sharon is the director of office of minority and women inclusion of the federal Housing Finance agency and laura mcrae is the director of the office of minority women inclusion of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Witnesses are reminded that their oral testimony will be limited to five minutes. A chime will go off at the end of your time and i ask that you respect the members and other businesses time by wrapping up your oral testimony. Without objection in your written statements will be made part of the record. Miss cole you are not recognized for five minutes to give an oral presentation on your testimony. Chair beatty, Ranking Member wagoner and distinguished members of the subcommittee thank you for this opportunity to testify and share the diversity and inclusion efforts of treasuries headquarters. Diversity and inclusion emerged as a discipline over the past 50 years or so but i prefer to trace these values into the words on the great seal of the United States, E Pluribus Unum, out of many, one. Of course hundreds of thousands of people were enslaved when that motto came to be in 1776 so our nations practices did not exactly align with its founding principle but we can celebrate that this has been our longstanding ideal and our continuing quest to this day. I am pleased to have this opportunity to share treasuries ongoing work toward this end including topics from her most recent annual report and activities undertaken in response to the corona virus pandemic treasury has continued to increase womenowned businesses. For example in fy 2019 more than one third of the contracts for Treasury Department amounting to 112 million were awarded to minority and women owned businesses and these were among the highest levels since we began tracking subcontracting. Treasury has also worked to strengthen and sustain a small and minority owned banks and two years ago treasury launched a program to engage large commercial banks with small and minority owned banks and mentor protege relationships. Last year secretary mnuchin personally championed the expansion of this program by writing to the ceos of 26 of the largest banks to invite their participation. Treasury supported participation of minorities depositories institutions as lenders in the Paycheck Protection Program. On march 3 of this year went treasury commemorated the 150 fifth anniversary of freedmans bank we never could have envisioned that ndis would be called upon weeks later to address the economic fallout of the covid19 pandemic. When the Paycheck Protection Program closed 175 ndis have approved over 123,000 ppp loans providing more than 10 billion to Small Businesses. In addition, 27 of all ppp funds were distributed to low and moderate income communities which is proportionate to their percentage of the population. Treasury strives to increase Workforce Diversity at all levels of the agency and 36 of employees across all grade levels and treasuries headquarters of racial or ethnic minorities and 44 of all employees are women. We strive to promote a Workplace Culture where diversity and inclusion is accepted as the responsibility of every employee. For instance, all Senior Executives have a diversity and inclusion written into their Performance Plan and when the aged directors jointly hosted a discussion on race and racism following the George Floyd Killing one school one third of the 9000 people who voluntarily participated were treasury employees. Treasury works to inspire tomorrows leaders and weak conduct of Treasury Scholars Program hosting talented minority students as interns from leading colleges and universities including hbcus, hispanics serving institutions. These experiences provide them with marketable skills, inspire them to consider Public Service careers and even position them for future employment at treasury. So, in the spirit of E Pluribus Unum we take seriously our allegation to ensure that those who do the work of treasury as employees, contractors or financial agents are representative of the beneficiaries of our work, the american people. I look forward to answering any questions you may have for me. Thank you very much. Sharon levine is the director of office of minority women inclusion of the federal housing agency. You have five minutes for your testimony. Good afternoon, chair of beatty and distinguish members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the mutation to appear before you today. Since october 2006 [inaudible] this is my first opportunity to testify for you and let me express the appreciation for the work on diversity. Since the success its our commitment to inclusion [inaudible] this has been true for as long and as i discuss in a moment it has top priority [inaudible] [inaudible] today this work has taken on an urgency. The tragic loss of life [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] today i will provide an overview of our work. This work is described in more detail in my written testimony as well as the report to congress [inaudible] [inaudible] from the very first day in office we took steps to strengthen [inaudible]. The director insured on the executive committee was strengthened and the director has provided leadership necessary for the agency and to take initiatives for diversity and inclusion at the core values of all that we do. [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] to supervise the diversity and inclusion. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify today and i look forward to answering your questions. Thank you very much. Miss gibbs you are not recognized for five minutes to give your oral presentation on your testimony. Thank you. Chair beatty, Ranking Member wagoner and members of the subcommittee thank you for the opportunity to testify today to highlight the efforts to advance diversity and inclusion and opportunity. I commend this committee for its role in passing section 342 for your vision and commitment to equality and access to opportunity. Section 342 is at a synod again impact on the federal financial regular rate agency and the entities that we regulate. It is largely responsible for their advances made by minorities over the years. Since its inception the sec has focused its critical mandate under section 342 of the dodd frank with the goal of developing and implementing programs that would lead to enhanced Diversity Inclusion and opportunity for women and minorities at the fcc industry that is under representative communities. The outcomes achieved over the years with regard to hiring promotion, Business Training outreach efforts and interaction with our regular did and pretty demonstrates that the secs has been accepted at promoting change. During my tenure at the diversity and inclusion efforts have moved from a place of theoretical discussions about problematic activities to the implementation of significant strategies and actions that have exulted in tangible outcomes with regard to workforce, supply diversity, assessment of our regularly particularly under the leadership of chairman [inaudible]. At the fcc the 4500 count men and women are our most important accents. Their expertise are essential to the oversight and regulation of our vast complex and everchanging capital markets. Promoting diversity and inclusion in our workforce is, not only a shared agency commitment but also value enhancing. At the fcc i believe that our efforts provided tangible clues of this valuable proposition. [inaudible] as a result its benefited investors, issuers and other Market Participants. In addition to the efforts at fcc we also provide leadership and guidance on Diversity Inclusion on matters that affect Market Participants in the entities we regulate. First, they are engaged with each of the secs external Advisory Committee and provided direct input to these committees to ensure that all have embraced the need for hearing diverse perspectives from members critical to this success of the committee. We see Public Meetings that they evidenced this. We also look to the industry to promote opportunities for historically under representative compilation within their workforces. We have conducted significant outreach in this regard. Earlier this year the fcc again issued its diversity to our regulating entity and that we have continued to look for creative ways to incentivize the participation in this initiative. We continue to remain encouraged with the progress of our regulating entities and we will continue to take steps to encourage engagement and collaboration for our entities. Finally we have implemented an outreach and Technical Assistance strategies that have increased minority and women owned businesses and awareness of fcc requirement and participation in Agency Contracting resulting in sustained improvements over the eight years as director. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify with my fellow directors today on this important topic that i believe the fcc has come a long way in its effort to promote diversity and inclusion and there is still much work that needs to be done and we will continue to emphasize its commitment to. Diversity, inclusion and opportunity for all and i look forward to your question. Enqueue. Thank you very much. And now ms. Mccreight you will be recognized for five minutes to give fiveminute testimony on your oral presentation. Thank you. Good afternoon chair beatty, Ranking Member wagoner and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to update you on our initiatives of the Consumer Protections per row. Im not director and i am pleased to share with you some of the bureaus proactive efforts to integrate diversities across the bureau and around business. As noted in the most recent Office Minority women inclusion report fiscal year 2019 at the support of Bureau Leadership we sought inclusion in gender and diversity in our workforce and expanded our recruitment and outreach efforts and we conducted extensive outreach to regulate or to understand their dni practices and developed an Online System to select and analyze that information. We continued program and finally we painted our strategy to include minority women owned businesses and contracting opportunity. Actively work to mandate section 342 of the dodd frank act to ensure that regulations policies and Financial Solutions developed by the bureau are relevant of all and fully integrate dni. Given the challenge of our country is facing as we struggle to deal with incidences of racial violence and in equity they are more important than ever and under leadership of i implemented a full view action plan shortly after the tragic death of george floyd on may 252 insist management with dealing with these events. By collaborating with my peers to deliver a federal multi web task on june 24 and in addition we created Racial Equity resources for all bureau employees and address specific racial issues with bias and white privilege. We also addressed racial bias and issues in the workplace. We continue to work with and support staff as they deal with these ongoing issues. Bureaus [inaudible] developed a robust outreach and recruiting effort at colleges and universities with trade specifications including minority women organizations. We build up a diverse competitive workforce and as of july 2020 women make up 50 of the bureaus workforce and minority employees make up [inaudible] and respective leadership 49 are women compared to 34 government wide and 36 of minorities compared to 21 government wide. In january 2020 the bureau launched an online Data Collection tool called inclusivity to collect and submit diversity assessment data from our regulators entities. We reach out to over a thousand institutions to encourage them to get assessment. Although the response will be impacted by the pandemic we continue to conduct outreaches to the entities and work with trade organizations to educate Financial Institutions for benefits and encourage them to adopt best practices. The bureau engages in an array to promote an Inclusive Work environment with equity, collaboration and greater productivity per each month i issue a message to all employees sharing perspectives on topics. The bureau launched the test program for professional development and includes [inaudible] and Career Development. The bureau continues to prioritize the minority and women owned businesses and we conduct targeted outreach and provide Technical Assistance including our Quarterly Business with the bureau and it has resulted in positive trends and fy 27228. 9 in fy 2019. In the current fiscal year we are on track for this area. In conclusion while we made sniffing and progress on our strategies in 2020 there is more the bureau can accomplish and our commitment to serving the interest of all consumers is critical we reflect the ways theres different backgrounds and perspectives and the financial marketplace. I look forward to working with the subcommittee to achieve the goals of section 342 im happy to answer any questions that you might have prayed thank you. Thank you very much. I now recognize myself for five minutes for questions. Ms. Gibbs, in 2018 the fcc invited 1400 regulators to commit assessment only 38 responded and i certainly appreciate your enthusiasm and hope and could you tell me what we can do or why do you think that you had so few to commit . And address of improved, thats because weve done a lot more outreach. Weve engaged are regulating entities, i dont want to cut you off but your helpful the numbers will go up. Just. Yes. Can you tell us why the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau only begin collecting data this year . Certainly. So i joined the bureau in january 2019 could you speak up a little. Can you hear me now . Yes. So i joined the pure in january of 2019. So im speaking basin information that i learn as they came into the bureau. My understanding was that ended the previous leadership they had been looking to do outreach and engagement with the entities to get a more robust understanding of what barriers may exist, and understand with a different institutions were in terms of diversity in the marketplace. Thank you very much. Ms. Levine, you are subject to section 1116 as you know. Can you share how you have leveraged your authority to collect data from regulated entities . Yes. We develop an Examination Program in 2017. So you always four years of examining regulated entities. We have connected very detailed data minority and women owned [inaudible] that way we are able to analyze that data. [inaudible] thank you. Systemic racism continues to impede full economic inclusion of diverse communities. Allies were created in part as you all know to help ensure to prevent abusive practices. This is a yes or no question for everyone. Do you believe aesthetic racism exists . Ms. Cole, yes or no . Yes, absolutely. Ms. Gibbs . Yes. Ms. Levine . Yes, i do. Ms. Mccray . Ms. Mccray, are you there . Im sorry, i was muted. Yes. Thank you very much. Also i would like to enter into the record a letter that came from the executive office of the president ial office of management and budget that makes the statement, i wont read it but i will enter it in the record, so without objection. I dont know if youre familiar with this letter but basically it made the statement that when we look at training for diversity and inclusion, that it should be seized and assisted. Do you think any of your trainers ceaseanddesist. Argue of you that all whitee contribute to racism or benefit from it . And this is from the letter and thats a yes or no and we will go, ms. Cole, ms. Gibbs, ms. Levine, ms. Mccray. No, that is that characterize any of our training. Thank you. Ms. Gibbs . No, it does not characterize any of the training at the sbc. Ms. Levine and ms. Mccray. [inaudible] would you also say that your training and the work you do with omwi has been value enhanced . Yes or no. Yes, it has. Yes. Yes. Okay. Thank you i yield back my time is up. Now i recognize the distinguished gentleman from ohio, congressman gonzales, for five minutes for questions. Thank you chairwoman beatty and thank you to the second panel for being a part of todays hearing. I have susan questions ill just try to run through cooking because i know are tightly sure im im going to start with ms. Cole as though the so many challenges throughout the past six months how has the Treasury Department maintained a focus on promoting Diversity Inclusion throughout the pandemic . Well, initially certainly after the killing of george floyd we knew that there was a lot of drama within the nation, and among our employees. We know that individuals dont leave that pain, that confusion, that anger at the door when they come to work. So we knew it was important for us to address these issues, not only as a compassionate activity, but also as an important business decision. Because we know that this can affect productivity. So one of the things we did as a group, as a omwi group, was to put on a program to address the feelings, the issues and some of the solutions and actions that could be taken by employees relative to the upheaval that was precipitated by the george floyd incident. Iq. And was that just amongst the omwi staffer was happy omwi Staff Initiative spearheaded the initiative . It was. It was, the omwi staff and actually it was an interagency activity with all of the omwi, the eight omwis and to all treasury employees. Very good. Thank you. My next question would be for ms. Gibbs. One thing weve talked a lot in this committee, the subcommittee, and i hear it often is there are not enough opportunities to minority businesses to manage assets for pensions. You know, the opportunity to participate as an asset manager which is of course an incredibly lucrative field and a wonderful opportunity for those fortunate to be in that field. So my question is come into role, i would just be curious to hear your perspective on the steps need to be taken to make sure we have more Diverse Fund Managers and more opportunities for those in the Asset Management field. Thank you, congressman, for the question. It is a very important question to the sec. So the sec is formed committees and what of our Advisory Committees is Asset Management Advisory Committee. In my Partnership Relationship over the years i have seen relationship with this association securities professionals. This issue has come up a a numr of times over the years and so what i would say is im pleased to say the sec has started to look at this issue around diverse Asset Managers, and what the sec, if we can do anything additional to up minority [inaudible] so we held a wonderful panel in july that explored and outline the issue. Were having a second panel of september 16 that will continue to explore these issues and hopefully help develop solutions that can address the underlying cause of like light utilizatioa diverse Asset Managers. Iq. [inaudible] my final question for ms. Mccray im getting feedback on this but in your view, Minority Community have minor committees been impacted among the pandemic. Anything we should be aware of on our position . So thank you. I will start off by saying i am probably not the best person at the bureau to impact that come to give information on that. We have a whole team of people who focused specifically on it. What i will say in terms of of minority communities and how their effective ice [inaudible] weve seen historically and this time is so different, that when you have these kinds of situations coming down, minority communities tend to be more impacted and were negatively impacted, the lack of information, we tend to have like information. They tend to have less access to resources and so they will feel the brunt of something that is going on more so than the Majority Community will. One of the things the bureau has been doing over the course of the pandemic is really issuing a lot of information so that we can help inform minority communities to make them aware of the rights come to make them aware of what to be on the lookout for, to make them aware to be on the lookout for scams and other deal with those. We have an excellent system at the bureau where people can file a complaint if they are involved in Something Like that or believe they have been i think my time is up. Im sorry. I yield back. Thank you. It is my honor now to go to the distinguished gentleman from missouri and chair of the housing committee, congressman clay. Thank you so much, madam chair. I find the hearing to be quite productive, and i appreciate you holding it. And this is for the entire panel. In 2015, house Financial Services Committee Staff report on the fifth anniversary of doddfrank found that across the financial regulatory agency, africanamerican employees generally received lower Performance Management review scores than white employees. And to all the panelists, what policies and practices have your offices implemented to help eliminate bias and other problems in your Performance Review processes . And that may have caused those performance rating disparities. To what extent have your agencys corrected those ratings disparities since the committees 2015 review . Whoever wants to start can jump in, please proceed. Okay. This is lora mccray. The cfpb, we did an assessment and really looked at the performance Rating System. We ended up changing our system into a two level Rating System. We also did a review of all of our personal standards to really make sure that they were accurate and weve added to our Performance Management process training for everyone, training for the managers are going to be doing the review process as well as training for the people were flatout selfassessment and were being reviewed. In addition, in a process wee included more of a feedback loop. Theres an opportunity for people to do a Self Assessment and provide that to the manager will be doing their rating. So have that opportunity to bring fixed to the managers attention. We also have included checking meetings and coaching as well. Again to try to make sure that employees are able to come and get what theyre doing and that managers able getting an accurate necessity as i said with a standard making sure the standards to be used to do the measurement are accurate. And so just follow up, ms. Mccray. You are confident in the metrics being used to hold management accountable for these evaluations . Yes, i am. And actually the one thing i would add is, if this goes to the earlier question about trading. Part of our trading is, we include in our training supervisors, training on unconscious bias to make sure people are aware not to bring their biases into the Performance Management process. And its a mandatory training at anyone who becomes a supervisor at the bureau has to take. Thank you. Sharron levine, how do you hold management account for these evaluation . Fhfas done several things. Weve established the office, equal opportunity and standards which [inaudible] and that will be one of the topics, the issues that [inaudible] in addition to that, fhfa has elevated diversity and inclusion as a competency. So that is included in the every manager and chief advisor. Moreover, we have an annual management conference actually trained in a number of areas including spotting and recognizing unconscious bias. [inaudible] hiring, interviewing, any number of those areas. Thank you. And ms. Gibbs, can you share with us what happens at your agency . So since 2015 i would say that, we put in a number of increase protocols, training and guidance around Performance Management. Also our Performance Management system has changed a little bit over the years. [inaudible] some of the many things that director mccray at the cfpb has highlight. Also protocols are put in place to make sure that how you calibrate the system and we have an eeo office that is separate from the trend for office and set and continues to i continued basis, not just when asked whether or not there are particular parts of our system that has bias or barriers that impede full utilization of our workforce. So the bottom line is that weve come a long ways since 2015 and weve added protocols in place. Thank you. Madam chair, was that a buzzer for me . Yes. The time of the gentleman has expired. Thank thank you so much. I yield back. Thank you. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from texas who is also the chairman of the oversight and investigation committee, congressman green, for five minutes for questions. Thank you, madam chair here its an honor to have the opportunity to speak again. I want to go back to a chart, the bill that would require the regulators to examine whether or not diversity and inclusion is being met in the various agencies that they regulate. Im going back to because i understand that some people who would say that this is not enough. And to those persons i would so we want to contend that this may not be enough, but its my belief that even when you cant do enough, you should at least to all that you can. I think this is something that can be done. This bill does not in any way encroach upon anything other than the discrimination that takes place, the inability of minorities to achieve status among the upper management in these corporations. To those who would say, well, this bill will force people to do what they can do voluntarily. The retort to this is if this could be done voluntarily, it wouldve been done. Weve had ten years of doddfrank and it has not been done. I would believe that over the ten years we could accomplish this without legislation, we would have to so h. R. 8160 is a means by which we can have regulators, examine whether or not this diversity and inclusion is actually taking place. Are we really eliminating the systemic racism that exist in the country . Theres something called a Rating System and this Rating System is a means by which International Organizations are rated, and i see no reason why we cant have the same Rating System that is accepted internationally to be used for what we are doing it correctly. The Rating System will test the capital adequacy, the assets, management capability, ernie, liquidity and sensitivity of various corporations. Well, were just asking that diversity and inclusion be examined as well and require that there be diversity officers within these organizations, that there be meetings to take place contrary to of course what the president would have. The president of america, it is antiamerican to have diversity and inclusion as an agenda item. Unfortunately, he has an america that is shrinking. Most people i believe in this country ought to see everybody treated fairly and equally. And to do this we can simply wait for it to happen, or we can have legislation comparable to what we are presenting to this body. Asking my colleagues to please take a look at this legislation and give me your thoughts on it. It is antiamerican to do what the president is doing, that is to ban diversity training, and call it antiamerican. The president is doing the country a disservice with this kind of behavior, and my hope is will have legislation in place so future president s will honor the will of the country and the constitution. Now let me just ask you quickly of ms. Cole. Ms. Cole, do you find Diversity Inclusion to be something that is beneficial not only for the people who are the centerpiece of the diversity and inclusion but also for people in general within the Corporate Structure . Could you give me a yes or no please . That is a definite yes. Okay. And ms. Gibbs, similar questin to you. Diversity and inclusion, doesnt benefit the entirety of the corporation as opposed to just the people who are the focus of the diversity and inclusion, many of the women and minorities . Is that a yes or a no . Yes to both. Okay. And to ms. Levine . Yes. And that is invalidated [inaudible] i workforce. And ms. Mccray. Yes, it benefits everyone. Finally this, just a closing comment. I think that, madam chair, truly to be commended for this hearing. This hearing really brings into pleasure this need for the diversity and inclusion training as well as for legislation that will require this kind of training in various entities that are regulated by the federal government. I thank you again for what you are doing, and i yield back. Thank you very much, congressman green. I now have a distinguished honor to ask the gentleman from florida, congressman larson, five minutes for questions. Okay, thank you very much, madam chair. And this question is for ms. Clark a day we can go down the line. During the Global Pandemic cdfis have stepped up to provide august forebearers, long different, modification to address the need of borrowers. Ms. Cole, the ongoing pandemic to what extent has your allies have been engaged omwis [inaudible] during the Pandemic Response . For example, ensuring that mdis and minority cdfis are able to fully participate in the tpp, main Street Lending progra program . Well, first of all, the treasury took a lot of energy into ensuring that mdis participated in the tpp program as lenders. During the second round guidance was issued to the lenders to redouble their efforts to support Small Businesses, set aside was established so that loan funds with the designated for mdis, for Small Business lending, that the deputy secretary and the fda administrator held a roundtable with mdi lenders to gain insight for policy improvements to the lending program. And there was close monitoring throughout the ppp program to ensure that we understood the lending patterns throughout, and that there was transparency to identify gaps in funding. You had mentioned the cdfi fund. In fy 2019, cdfi awarded nearly 16 million to mdi banks and Credit Unions that support predominantly minority communities. And then earlier this year when we were commemorating the 150 fifth anniversary of the freedmans bank, the envying 200 professionals to discuss mdi programs we convened within the federal government and to highlight the things that theyre doing, and to get feedback on things that we could do better. Okay. And so, so according to what you just said, that means you are implemented policies you all to ensure Agency Contract are making goodfaith effort to Workforce Diversity . I beg your pardon . Well, in terms of come in terms of Workforce Diversity, we do, first of all, treasury, it doesnt have, its not a regulated. So were the only omwi agency that is not a regulatory agency. So we dont have regulated entities that fall under the mandate to ensure Workforce Diversity of regulated entities. However, we do do analysis of contractors to ensure contractor Work Force Diversity is part of the goodfaith effort mandate that is part of section 342. And we do that, we do not annually. We do a good faith effort analysis of a random sampling of treasury contractors, Treasury Departmental office contractors. Okay. I am less than a minute. Is this true with the rest of the panel in terms of contractors can make a goodfaith effort those are the one look at that the same way . Yes. Fhfa does. [inaudible] to ensure [inaudible] okay. I have about 20 seconds left. Cfpb includes in our contracts a clause about the gse requirement to make contractors over and we do analysis and also request him them to submit information to us so we can verify that their making that goodfaith effort. Okay. Thats the bill for me to stop. I yield back. I yield. Thank you, congressman lawson. The chair now recognizes the distinguished woman from pennsylvania, congresswoman. Thank you, madam chair. At a thank you and all our panelists for coming together today to discuss this important topic. I am delighted to be on the subcommittee to examine Diversity Inclusion. As closely as i can in order to move forward, we note diversity is our strength. Id like to ask each of the panelists rather quickly and a followup to what mr. Greene mrn talked about come which is reporting on september 5 at the Top Administration had instructed federal agency to end racial training. I wanted to ask you, each of the directors for these very important agencies what direction either before or after the omb letter that you received what direction can suggestion come , had you receive from the administration in terms of diversity training and possibly suspending or or in think somef it . I will start first with treasury, director cole. Yes. To date we have not received any instructions in terms of our diversity training. Either that came out i guess late friday and as of this point we dont have any definitive instructions about how to move forward. Thank you we will be leaving this to keep our commitment to live congressional coverage. You can continue watch this and live on her website cspan. Org and we will have the complete program for you later in our progra