Innovation Sprint at Ferndale Pride: Barriers, Struggles, and Goals of the LGBTQ+ Community

By Andy Manthei, GreenPath

In June 2023, GreenPath secured a booth at one of the largest LGBTQ+ gatherings in Southeast Michigan, Ferndale Pride. The goals were as follows:

1. Show up authentically in support for the LGBTQ+ community.
2. Gather precise feedback from real people for innovation designs on serving the financial needs of the LGBTQ+ community, having authentic conversations with the community. What was the community seeing as specific barriers and struggles, or what goals were people working on?
3. Celebrate wins and/or acknowledge what the individuals were working towards!

When it comes to human centered design, post it notes and artifacts are the name of the game, and our innovation team created a unique rainbow board to gather feedback from those who were willing to share. It was a powerful moment to have genuine conversations, show support, let people know they are not alone, and tap into needs in a less structured setting as it was a fun day to celebrate with the community and their families and friends.

By no means is this intended to be the end all be all, but provide us key data at this point in time with so much uncertainty around state and federal legislations cutting at the financial lives of those in the community, and economic hurdles such as student loan repayment restarting.
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Drum roll please…….
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THE FINDINGS

Top 3 Barriers

• Student Loans and Cost of College
• Affordable Housing
• Health Care

Top 3 Goals

• Successful/Dream Job
• Financial Stability
• Financial Literacy

​On the surface, someone may look at and say but aren’t these for anyone? The LGBTQ+ community has layers and nuance to consider impacting their financial health. 

​For example, in consideration of health care and health care costs, for a transgender person, the costs of doctors, medication and mental health costs all come into play. Additionally, some states do not offer equal protections for same sex couples when it comes to health care. There is continued discrimination that prohibits equal access for health services and restricting access for those services. There can also be significant costs and barriers for LGBTQ+ couples who decide to have a family, whether that be through adoption or other means. The point is we have to find ways to support and normalize the community needs for their financial journeys.
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What Can You Do?

1. Take ownership of your learning to become an ally. For people that have been historically marginalized and made to feel less than, it cannot be solely upon them to make sure you understand their pain and trauma and not feeling accepted and why changes are needed. Their stories are often inspiring and painful because of all that they have had to bear. Don’t put that all on them.
2. Look to your staff. There are often still internal cultural barriers to the self-identified LGBTQ+ staff feeling like they can be their authentic selves. Spend some time learning more about their unique needs. That could be through a conversation, a survey, or some other way that creates a safe space for them to share what may be different about their situation. It could be through the collection of data with an installation like GreenPath created.
3. This then becomes the ripple effect. Your staff is likely passionate about helping others. They can take leadership roles in helping connect the credit union with the LGBTQ+ community as they begin to trust your credit union leadership. From there, once people are validated and cared for, they will trust you to help them with their financial journey.

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Author

Andy Manthei is currently a Business Development Specialist with GreenPath Financial Wellness. Andy has been in financial services for 17 years, first as a branch manager and loan officer for a financial institution before becoming a certified counselor at GreenPath and eventually moving into a role focused on bringing financial wellness to the masses through partnerships. Andy is trained in human centered design thinking, which has given him a rich canvas of experience in empathy, in understanding financial institution challenges as well as drawing on the insights from his heart to heart, one on one conversations with people all along the spectrum of financial health. He is particularly passionate about financial health for all in America. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

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