Challenge

According to a study by the Financial Services Pipeline (FSP), African Americans and Latinos in the financial sector are projected to drastically decline within five years if no action is taken to change the approach on hiring and retention. That’s the mission of the FSP, a diversity initiative created and funded by 19 Chicagoland financial institutions such as Ariel Investments, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Illinois State Treasurer’s Office and The Chicago Community Trust. FCG’s challenge was to develop a communications approach that would increase awareness about this issue and solutions, with a specific focus on the FSP intern program.

Solution

FCG focused on generating external visibility for FSP’s signature events like the Annual FSP Summit and Intern Career Conference.

Messaging was developed to engage internal audiences at all of the FSP member institutions around D&I efforts within their own organizations to support the recruitment and retention of financial services interns. To increase awareness, FCG created FSP social media profiles on Twitter and LinkedIn, and produced creative social graphics, video vignettes and infographics to support the organization’s mission and showcase intern success stories.

FSP brought together more than 100 interns, from across FSP member firms, at the Fourth Annual Intern Career Conference, held at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. FCG captured interviews and moments from the conference to include in social media graphics and snackable videos to share on social platforms. The content included topics on converting an internship into a career and how to find your purpose. This conference served as a platform that highlighted FSP’s mission to address racial diversity and cultural competency within the Chicago area’s financial services sector by developing a pipeline of diverse talent.

Impact

FCG met its publicity objectives with placements in local and national general market and diverse outlets, including the Chicago Citizen, the Chicago Tribune, Rolling Out, and Network Journal. The Financial Services Pipeline Initiative intern video testimonials were widely shared across the 19-member institutions for use in recruiting efforts to support the diversity pipeline goals.