At Citizens, we live every day by a credo that calls for us to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion and to operate with understanding, empathy, and care. It’s a journey we’re always on, a standard we hold ourselves to. To keep getting better.

The global movement calling for racial justice and equality has moved all of us to reflect. Across the globe, people are listening with open minds and hearts. Having difficult conversations. Asking questions like: What can I do to be a part of the solution?

Across Citizens, we’re asking ourselves that same question as well, to understand and help drive real and lasting progress across the communities we serve.

On June 25, we announced the next step in our journey for equity.

A multi-million dollar commitment will address critical economic needs, build stronger communities, and create a culture of inclusion through a number of initiatives:

• Grants to minority-owned businesses: Small businesses are an essential cornerstone of every community. Citizens will award grants to minority-owned businesses across the Citizens footprint.
• Supporting entrepreneurs: As part of our lending support to small businesses, we will provide additional capital for training through grants of $10,000 each to 25 minority entrepreneurs to launch new ventures.
• Economic Opportunity Funds: We will provide funding to support business development and housing needs in underserved areas.
• Donations to nonprofit organizations: We’re donating a total of $500,000 to five nonprofit organizations focused on job creation and workforce advancement, including 100 Black Men of America, The United Negro College Fund, Posse Foundation, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and the National Urban League.
• Matching colleague donations: Citizens will provide two-for-one matches for employee contributions to the same five nonprofit social equity organizations mentioned above throughout July 2020.
• Fund digital literacy programs: We will expand our existing partnership with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation and form additional partnerships to fund digital literacy programs to eliminate the digital divide that is a significant barrier for people of color.
• Invest in additional internal efforts to bring our workforce and leadership more closely in line with the demographics of the communities we serve while also driving greater levels of understanding and empathy among colleagues regarding issues of racial equity.

Real change doesn’t happen overnight, but we’re dedicated to driving meaningful progress in this critical area. To doing what’s right.

We’ll continue to share our journey and the progress we’re making toward diversity, equity, and inclusion. And we invite you to join us on our journey.