Philadelphia ends DEI standards for business contracts amid Trump’s federal ban and people are reacting

Mayor Cherelle Parker is reportedly avoiding a “confrontation” with the Trump White House to safeguard millions of federal dollars.

Philadelphia is ending its DEI standards for government contracts with businesses throughout the city, ending a decades-old practice as public and private sectors grapple with President Donald Trump‘s crusade against diversity programs.

According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the administration of Mayor Cherelle Parker, the city’s first woman and Black female mayor, will no longer enforce its goal of ensuring 35% of contracts go to minority, women, or disabled-owned enterprises. The government contracts are worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The 35% benchmark has been set by City Hall since 2016. A smaller goal of 25% was set since the early 1980s, the Inquirer reports. The move is reportedly part of a broader shift to eliminate DEI policies in city procurement, which is estimated to cost historically disadvantaged firms $370 million annually.

In September, Philadelphia sunsetted a similar DEI practice for publicly funded projects. These decisions have garnered condemnation from leaders in the city whose residents are majority Black and Brown.

The city’s top attorney, Solicitor Renee Garcia, told The Philadelphia Inquirer that the city’s latest move is a result of a “new federal legal precedent” prohibiting the use of race or gender to determine contract goals. Garcia claimed that the public funds would be used to “promote, reinforce or perpetuate discrimination.”

That language mirrors that of the Trump administration, which has threatened to withhold federal dollars from state and local governments, as well as private institutions, that enforce DEI-related policies.

“The goal of the revised program is to create an environment in which all businesses can thrive and contribute to the local economy,” said Garcia.

Mayor Parker’s administration stated that it would focus on incentivizing businesses that are “small and local,” rather than targeting specific groups based on race or gender.

According to the Inquirer, Parker has avoided a “confrontation” with the Trump White House to safeguard millions of federal dollars that the city of Philadelphia relies on to balance its budget.

In October, the Parker administration settled a lawsuit brought against the city that accused its workforce diversity vendor contracts of being illegal.

The lawsuit was brought by firms represented by America First Legal, which Stephen Miller, the current deputy chief of staff to President Trump, founded.

Philadelphia City Council Minority Leader Kendra Brooks, a member of the Working Families Party, said she was “deeply troubled” by Mayor Parker’s decision.

Brooks told the Inquirer, “I would have appreciated us being able to find ways around that, like we’ve seen in other cities. Chicago is looking at other ways. Baltimore is looking at other ways. In Philly, we’re supposed to be a little grittier than that. I think constantly caving under the Trump administration’s thumb is definitely problematic, but I’m not the mayor.”