Mortgages: Black Leaders’ Thoughts on Closing the Racial Divide,” published by Mortgage Professional America on June 4, Monique Winston, WFG Lender Services’ Vice President of National Business Development and head of the Cleveland Realtist Association, and NAMMBA Founder and CEO Tony Thompson discuss the importance of providing opportunities for young people of color to enter the mortgage industry – both to ensure a more diverse workforce and expand homeownership.

“What most companies realize is that diversity isn’t just the right thing to do,” Winston told writer Clayton Jarvis. “It’s the only option in terms of making sure you’re able to reach those communities. It makes good, basic business sense. This world is going to look totally different years from now, so in order to reach those consumers you have to make sure they see themselves within your organization.

“And we’re not just talking about racial diversity,” she continued. “There’s diversity of age, there’s diversity of gender. All of these things bring diversity of thought. And that’s what you need. You need diversity of thought to tackle all of the things we’re seeing in today’s society.”

Added Thompson, “Diversity is a great thing for companies that don’t have it or want more of it, and if used appropriately, it can be a competitive advantage by allowing you to connect with people in your market place that you currently don’t connect with, thus making your business more successful, thus impacting and touching more people from a homeownership perspective as well.”

The article posted on the day Winston moderated a NAMMBA Success Webinar, hosted by Williston Financial Group, on “Building a Better Mortgage Process in the Wake of COVID-19.” NAMMBA is the National Association of Minority Mortgage Bankers of America.