Scaling CRGs: How DiversiChime helps grow our CRGs with intentionality and intersectionality

“In the past year, we’ve doubled the number of Chimer Resource Groups (CRGs) at Chime,” explains Syeda Lee, the co-lead of Chime CRG, DiversiChime. “We wanted every Chimer to feel supported and wanted to implement a more scalable and creative approach that didn’t always require the heavy lifting that CRGs may involve.”

The question of growing CRGs — and the increasing number of CRGs — at Chime is multi-faceted. There’s the question of engagement, the workload and time commitment, and the fact that Chime is still currently a fully distributed team (we’re working from home until it’s safe to return to the office).

“What we’ve realized is that there are many ways to support underrepresented and marginalized communities at Chime — creating a CRG is just one of them,” says Monchette Gonda, DiversiChime’s other co-lead. “In the past, Chimers were enthusiastic about creating CRGs when they thought they’d reached the right number of people from a specific community. But there is a large distinction between supporting a community through company programming and asking a community to support itself by starting a CRG.”

So DiversiChime, in partnership with Erica Johnson, Chime’s Head of Diversity, Equity, and Belonging, and our other CRGs, sat down to outline the parts involved in running a CRG and find ways to encourage community members to participate but not be overwhelmed. “For example, we want Chimer parents to support each other and feel a sense of community, but we quickly realized that asking parents to start a CRG would be too much of a time commitment,” Syeda explains.

DiversiChime has the historical context to lead these conversations: It’s been the jumping-off point for many CRGs, such as Chimmigrants, which was born from a panel event DiversiChime hosted last year. Here’s a look at how DiversiChime has approached growing itself and Chime’s CRG program with intentionality and a focus on intersectionality.

Creating new CRGs

“Before, CRGs were created when folks felt there were enough Chimers to start a group — and people just ran with it,” explains Syeda. “Now, we want DiversiChime to act like training wheels for new CRGs, helping them find their footing and create more intentional and focused programming,” she adds. When a CRG might not be necessary, DiversiChime helps identify other ways to honor parts of a group’s culture, whether through events, content, or a private Slack channel.

“We’re still figuring out the best ways to support different communities that don’t have full-fledged CRGs,” explains Monchette. “DiversiChime has broadened our focus to support those who might not have a CRG, such as parents, caregivers, and Chimers with chronic health issues. We would never expect a community that doesn’t have the time to take on additional work and start a CRG — instead, we want to support them through DiversiChime.”

This approach has helped DiversiChime structure and codify the spirit that’s been core to the CRG all along, whether they’re supporting groups who don’t need a CRG or helping CRGs get set up. Just recently, they created guidelines and supported our new Asian, Pacific Islander and Desi CRG, Pacifichime, as they got started.

At the core of this more intentional approach to supporting other CRGs and providing connection for communities at Chime is a partnership with the People Operations and Workplace teams. “Instead of operating separately, we’ve united to drive engagement because bringing communities together through events, content, and education is core to what People Ops and the Workplace teams do. By partnering, we can create a more streamlined calendar of events and better understand the impact of our work,” says Syeda.

The role of intersectionality in CRGs

“Bringing structure to how we create new CRGs has helped us make a ton of progress as we scale,” says Monchette, “And so has identifying the overlap between CRGs. A breakthrough for us was acknowledging the fact that nobody walks through the world as only one identity — honoring the experience of identities coming together and creating unique experiences, as well as the intersectionality of communities, has been huge.”

The reality is, lots of Chimers see themselves reflected in multiple CRGs or as an ally to the communities represented in multiple CRGs, so there was a need to create programming to reflect that. “For many of us, there are several identities that impact how we present ourselves to the world and we wanted to show Chimers that the intersection of those identities is seen and celebrated,” Syeda explains. “There are so many lenses through which we see ourselves and each other, and many pieces of our identities can get lost in the shuffle sometimes. By identifying when CRGs are speaking to a shared issue and coming together in those efforts, we reduce the burden on everyone and empower Chimers to embrace their full selves — and all of their identities.”

For example, ChimeHers and our new Asian and Pacific Islander, and Desi (APID) CRG worked together on a feminism and women of color workshop by creating programming and resources that were shared across both CRGs. In the wake of the recent murders of Asian women in Atlanta, our API CRG leaned on AfroChime to understand what had been helpful following the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and more. That resulted in a private Slack channel for APID Chimers and resources being shared.

Another way CRGs recently showed off their intersectionality is through a joint effort on the CRG cookbook. Each chapter of the book is based on a CRG and theme — food from prominent female figures for ChimeHers, Pride brunch recipes from OutChime, and childhood recipes from DiversiChime, for example. “It’s a collection of the various expressions of where we all come from, our cultural histories, and our present-day identities,” says Monchette. “Many Chimers submitted recipes to more than one chapter, a prime example of our intersectionality.”

“Erica also helps us shine a light on intersectionality so that we can look at potential areas for CRGs to collaborate with one another and create a broader understanding of how different communities have shared experiences. To do that, we now maintain one central calendar that tracks holidays, culturally-themed months, and current events so that any intersectionality can be put into our programming,” Syeda adds.

DiversiChime has also recognized that intersectionality must be balanced with sacred individual spaces for communities. While highlighting the overlap between CRGs, we also focus on creating private channels that are safe spaces for community members and allies. There are often CRG meetings that are specific to a community and other open meetings for all to attend. “We want to make sure we’re giving space to allies to take up space and be part of the conversation without stepping on toes,” Syeda explains. “Having separate channels to communicate and meet through gives everyone space to be involved.”

Why intersectionality matters to our work

Growing a company with diversity and belonging front of mind involves a lot of moving parts, and as we’ve grown at Chime, we’ve realized the importance of approaching the growth of our CRGs and programming with intentionality and intersectionality. The reality is the more intersection of cultures we can embrace, the more competency we will all have in our day-to-day lives and work.

We believe that cultural competency is core to what we do at Chime. Monchette, for example, works on all messages that get sent to Chime’s members: “We have to treat every member as a human and understand varying experiences, identities, and the intersectionality of their lives,” she says. “The more perspectives we have in our work, the more our messaging will resonate with members from all communities.”

Ultimately, our CRGs and workplace programs at Chime strive to create community and safe spaces to get to know each other, see the world through different lenses than our own, and build our cultural competency. By taking a mindful approach to how we build them, as well as embracing the overlap between them, we work to become better humans, better Chimers, and to build a better financial future for our members. We know there’s still a lot of work to do, but we’re proud of how far we’ve come — and consider our new approach a win for everyone.