Taking steps towards greater diversity and equity within Kiva

Today, on Juneteenth, we celebrate and recognize the end of formal slavery in the United States.

With Kiva’s core mission centered around removing systematic barriers for underserved communities, today serves as a reminder that we still have a long way to go.

We are committed to becoming an organization that reflects and respects the diversity of the local communities where we work and serve. With this in mind, we will continue to do the following:

• Formalize resource groups dedicated to supporting our Black Kivans, other Kivans of Color, and Allies of Kivans of Color.

• Enlist the support of external trainers to educate our team on topics ranging from cognitive bias, anti-Black racism, and anti-racist practices.

• Work with third-party data analysts to evaluate our internal DEI landscape, with a special focus on our hiring, promotions, and pay practices.

• Commit time to reflect as an organization on how else we can show up for our Black community members, and to deepen our impact in the US by serving greater numbers of Black business owners with our 0%-interest loans.

As our organization continues to evolve and grow, we are deepening this commitment through a period of reflection and inquiry around our internal practices and policies to better deliver on our mission of a financially inclusive world. We are now working towards:

• Education for our team on anti-racism conversations and workshops alongside additional training on inclusion and diversity

• Diagnosing the internal landscape by collecting data to better understand our team’s sentiments on topics of inclusion, equity, and diversity

• Widening our hiring funnel to ensure that we have a strong pipeline of Black, women, non-binary and P.O.C. candidates

We look forward to sharing our progress as we deepen our work in these areas. And today, be sure to join us in our celebrations of Juneteenth by supporting Black-owned businesses in your community.

Artwork by Ash Trowel.