Granite Credit Union is the first credit union in Salt Lake County to earn the Juntos Avanzamos designation by creating safe, affordable and relevant financial products and resources in Spanish, and addressing specific needs of the Hispanic community.  

On March 21, Granite Credit Union held a proclamation celebration at the Columbus Community Center (2530 S. 500 East) to signal its commitment to Hispanic businesses. 

“We’re so excited to have this designation,” said Katie Ann Powell, Granite Credit Union community relations officer. “In order to get it we had to go through an extensive application that we had to complete. Usually, credit unions don’t get it on their first time when they try to apply but we did and that was huge for us.”

The designation affects each of the credit union’s eight branches in Utah and will be used to create strategies and partnerships that support Hispanic businesses and give underserved communities more financial opportunities.

Juntos Avanzamos (Together We Advance) was created by the company Inclusiv to recognize credit unions that empower Hispanic customers. Granite Credit Union helps its members navigate the financial process by employing a bilingual, culturally-competent staff, offering a Spanish website and building community partnerships. 

“We have a lot of community partners and we’re growing in community partners with the Hispanic community. Juntos Avanzamos saw that and are now giving us this designation,” Powell said. “We’re signaling to the Hispanic community that we’re a partner and we’re open for business.”

The celebration brought Granite Credit Union dignitaries together with local community leaders as the proclamation was adopted. The document states the credit union has compassionately responded to the needs of the community, is taking strides to provide financial services to underserved markets and has acknowledged its role in “People helping people.”

Next steps include making sure the Hispanic community knows they can come to Granite Credit Union for help, whether that’s for business or individual financing, and adapting programs to make services accessible and understandable. 

“You want to be served in the language you’re comfortable speaking, even if you’re bilingual,” Powell said. “We’ve also partnered with a lot of different organizations around the community doing clothing drives or workshops specific to the Hispanic community, but primarily it’s providing things in their language.”

By holding regular events, partnering with service projects and sponsoring community get-togethers, Granite Credit Union will continue its mission to bring inclusive concepts and ideas to Salt Lake County. For more information, visit Granite.org. 

“We want to make more relationships with the Hispanic community and drive more members as well, so they know they are safeguarded here, this is a safe space, they have resources for themselves,” Powell said. “For the Salt Lake area, this is a huge deal. We have a lot of Hispanic members or bilingual people in our community and we feel they should feel at home here. We also feel that we are an example to other credit unions to also do this…We’re hoping to be pioneers in that sense.” λ