DS News

54 FAIR ENOUGH? Representatives from the American Mortgage Diversity Council, Fannie Mae, New American Funding, and Open Mortgage discuss how the industry can best reflect and serve diverse American homeowners. Twenty years ago in Santa Anna, California, Frank Fuentes, son of migrant farm workers, came across an ad in a PennySaver. "Hiring: Loan Officers. No experience necessary. Opportunities are endless …" it read. Recalling his mother's words, "Hijo, siempre debes trabajar con la cabeza y no con la espalda"—that is, "Son, you should always work with your head and not your back"—the young man dialed the number and reached Rick Arvielo, who, along with wife Patty, operates New American Funding. "e next minute, you know it, I am sitting in his office being interviewed, and the rest is history," Fuentes said. en Arvielos tasked Fuentes with fielding calls from Spanish speakers. "I was the call center back then," Fuentes said. "I gained a tremendous amount of experience and must have helped 3,000 families over my career, 95% of them within the Hispanic sector." In 2013, the Arvielos promoted Frank Fuentes to VP of Multicultural Lending, New American Funding, where he is responsible for aligning the company with nonprofit organizations that share their quest to make homeownership a reality for more Americans, but he still spends much of his time originating loans that often require a little more manual work than others. "It's like putting on your boxing gloves when you submit a Latino loan to underwriting, because it's going to take more time and therefore more resources," he says. "A lot of diverse borrowers are not going to fit within that box that the technology-driven companies want them to fall under." With the nation growing more diverse by the year, how can the mortgage industry adapt to both meet the needs of those diversifying borrowers and to ensure that the workforce itself reflects an internal commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equity? MIRRORING THE COMMUNITIES YOU SERVE Across the country, social movements as well as pressure from advocacy groups, politicians, and workforces have prompted companies and organizations to renew their focus on fostering a more inclusive environment through diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. As much or more than any other industry—because of its direct influence on and reflection of Americans' financial health—the mortgage business' Cover Story By: Christina Hughes Babb

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