No matter where in the world they come from, diversity and inclusion are important topics for young credit union professionals.

The 14 credit union representatives that are in Curitiba, Brazil this week as part of the World Council of Credit Unions Young Professional Exchange attended SICREDI’s second annual Youth Summit, a forum that brings together about 150 credit union leaders, young professionals, and members to explore strategies for the challenges facing financial cooperatives.

“The thematic focus for the youth summit is looking at the topics of diversity and inclusion and exploring how credit unions can do a better job of serving the diversity of our communities in a number of different ways,” says Thom Belekvich, World Council program manager.

Speakers during Monday’s event spoke about projects at World Council, inclusion projects at Vancity in Canada, and the Pope Francis project in Argentina. Portuguese is the primary language in Brazil, but the conference is being translated and is available via headphones for conference attendees who speak English and Spanish.

"It'll be kind of interesting to see how that dynamic works with three different languages going on," Belekevich says. "But we've done things like that before, so hopefully it all goes well."

The summit continues on Tuesday.

► Visit CUNA News for more coverage of the World Council of Credit Unions Young Professional Exchange in Curitiba, Brazil.