$9.4 million in contracts awarded to minority, women owned businesses in first six months
By Charlene Crowell
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the nation’s first federal agency to focus solely on consumer financial issues, reached an important milestone. The fledgling agency’s first report to Congress was delivered to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee on January 31 by its recently-appointed Director, Richard Cordray.
Speaking to the committee, Cordray said in part, “We plan to use all of the tools available to us to ensure that everyone respects and follows the rules of the road. Where we can cooperate with financial institutions to do that, we will; when necessary, however, we will not hesitate to use enforcement actions to right a wrong.”
After officially opening for business on July 21 of last year, CFPB has had a busy six months of operations. Beyond staffing its headquarters inWashington, regional offices are also operating inSan Francisco,ChicagoandNew York City. CFPB has also testified before Congress 12 times, held town hall meetings and its first public hearing.
As CFPB moves ahead with supervision and examination of a variety of lenders, a commitment to partnerships, diversity and outreach is a key focus.
The specific concerns of minorities, military members and older consumers are now being addressed through a combination of dedicated staff, strategic partners and working agreements binding both.
CFPB’s Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI) is forging equal opportunity and inclusion at all agency levels; but additionally performs outreach to forge participation of minority-owned and women-owned businesses in CFPB’s programs and/or contracts. This specific initiative, originally spear-headed byCalifornia’s Congresswoman Maxine Waters, also assesses the diversity policies and practices of companies that CFPB supervises.
In just six months, $7.2 million – over 21 percent of CFPB contract dollars – went to small, disadvantaged businesses. During this same period, other contracts with small businesses owned by women account for an additional $2.2 million.
Looking forward, the report states, “The CFPB’s Procurement office will work with OMWI to research and develop further strategies to increase the levels at which minority and women owned enterprises – both large and small – participate in the CFPB’s contracting opportunities. OMWI will also develop procedures to promote opportunities for fair inclusion of women and minorities within the population of contractor staff, and as applicable, subcontractor staff in accordance with the Dodd-Frank Act.”
While minority inclusion in staffing and contracting moves forward, another targeted initiative addresses financial challenges that military families face, especially during times of deployment. The Office of Service Member Affairs, led by Holly Petraeus, has developed a database that tracks scams targeting the military community. Guiding these efforts is a formal joint statement of principles endorsed by the Department of Defense and Judge Adjutant Generals representing each branch of the military.
Additional CFPB agreements have been established with the Federal Trade Commission, Department of Education, and the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG). CFPB’s communications and coordination with NAAG will share information, data, and when appropriate, support one another through joint or coordinated enforcement actions.
While partnership and outreach activities continue, CFPB is also receiving and responding to consumer complaints. Between July 21 and December 31, 13,210 consumer complaints were received. Additionally, the agency has a whistleblower hotline.
Twice a year, CFPB is required under the Dodd-Frank Act to report on developments in enforcement, supervision, rulemaking and more. Future reports will cover six-month increments and are expected to be released every January and July.
“This year will be important for us as expand our work on behalf of all Americans”, said Cordray. “We look forward to the challenge and we hope that our federal and state government colleagues, our friends in industry and the public join to help us deliver on Congress’ vision that we stand on the side of consumers to improve their daily lives.”
Additional information on CFPB is available at CRL’s web: http://rspnsb.li/y8yi8o.
Charlene Crowell is a communications manager with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at: Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org
