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Last week, the Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget released a memo freezing all federal spending that in their words includes “foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion], woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.”

Despite a subsequent restraining order, lawsuits, and a retraction of the memo, federal agencies and their grantees are still feeling the impacts. Many state grant portals that provide important community programs have been shut down, university research is at a standstill, and USAID and related foreign aid programs have been suspended. Staff at agencies like the EPA have been threatened with firing, putting programs on climate change, air and water pollution, environmental justice, and toxics in jeopardy.

The administration has also targeted all federal staff and programs that work on DEI, effectively ending the government’s efforts around anti-racism and gender equality (including ending the observance of holidays like Black History Month and Women’s History Month). Many large companies have weakly followed suit by ending their own DEI programs.

The significant effects of these chaotic moves and others (many of them illegal) are only just beginning. The OMB memo is a small part of a broader effort by Trump and his wrecking crew to gut the federal government’s ability to protect its citizenry and the most vulnerable from the full range of health and environmental harm.

As an organization committed to supporting the most marginalized leaders in the environmental movement, Rachel’s Network is appalled by these developments. We stand with our grantee-partners and broader network in continuing to shine a light on injustice and ways to dismantle it. We will also continue to run the Catalyst Award, our annual program for women environmental leaders of color.

As Stacey Abrams recently explained, DEI might be a new term, but it’s a concept as old as the US. It’s simply our work, she says, to correct past mistakes and make our country’s actions match its founding mission of justice for all. For our organization, that means looking at the ways that women—and particularly women of color—have been overlooked by traditional grantmakers despite their significant leadership in the environmental movement.

For an organization founded to support gender equality in the environmental movement, DEI is in our DNA. It is precisely in moments like these when our commitment to that mission is tested, and when its courageous expression provides the most value. Consider making a pledge to the Catalyst Award to continue this vital work with us and show the women of color on the frontlines of the environmental movement that we stand with them.

Resources:
Doubling Down on DEI in the Shifting Legal Landscape and Navigating the DEI Backlash – Avarna Group

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