Pub. 15 2020-2021 Issue 2

NEBRASKA BANKERS ASSOCIATION 11 Email Rob Nichols at rnichols@aba.com . Unacceptable racial disparities in health, wealth, income, education and other measures of opportunity continue to grow — and the pandemic has laid bare these disparities. We’re a premier sponsor of Future OPS 2020, the tech conference for banking professionals, Sept. 16, in Council Bluffs, IA. RSVP at futurebankops.com. have partneredwithMinority Depository Institutions and Com - munity Development Financial Institutions to share compliance resources, expertise andmore to better enable those institutions to meet the needs of their often underbanked customers. ABA is tapping the experiences of these banks and leverag - ing the expertise of our staff experts on diversity, equity and inclusion to provide others with tools and resources to make a difference at their institutions. A new peer group for institutions with robust DE&I programs met for the first time in February and is helping us identify leading industry practices in this space that we can share with members. In April, we convened our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Advisory Group, which is com - posed of individuals from banks of all sizes and whose mission is to help us nurture bank DE&I efforts. I was also pleased to announce a strategic partnership this year with the National Bankers Association, the leading trade association for MDIs, to promote the health and well-being of underrepresented commu - nities. And we are collaborating with and promoting MinBanc, which reimburses the educational and professional development expenses of MDI bankers. This is all to say that both ABA and the industry have a strong foundation upon which to build. And build we must. Unaccept - able racial disparities in health, wealth, income, education and other measures of opportunity continue to grow — and the pandemic has laid bare these disparities. Proportionately, two and half times more Black Americans have lost their lives to COVID-19 than white Americans. We cannot shrug our shoulders and declare these inequities someone else’s problem. We cannot fail to engage. We are bank - ers, we are civic leaders and we must be part of the solution. 