Fort Worth City Council members will vote on the future of the city’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives on August 5.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, with President Trump cutting back on DEI programs and initiatives nationwide, cities such as Fort Worth are now discussing ending minority business incentive programs.
The Fort Worth City Council was originally scheduled to vote in late June on whether to dissolve the Fort Worth Business Equity Ordinance and end incentives for minority- and women-owned business enterprise-certified businesses.
However, after a tense June meeting among council members, the vote was postponed until August 5.
The proposed suspension is intended to protect the $277.1 million the city receives in federal funding, which is at risk if Fort Worth does not comply with the Trump administration’s elimination of DEI efforts.
Since the vote was delayed, City Manager Jay Chapa said in June that the city would seek to create new general incentives to help small businesses that may be affected by the DEI suspension, according to the Fort Worth Report.
Local leaders such as Tarrant County GOP Chairman Bo French have previously criticized the city’s DEI programs and strongly support eliminating the department.
“More and more, we keep finding out that our beloved red county is promoting radical Marxism. Diversity and inclusion programs do the opposite of what they claim. They only seek to divide us and promote racism against white people. I call on the City of Fort Worth to immediately disavow these programs, or the good people in this community will mobilize like never before to run the Marxists out of office,” French told DX last year.