As another example, the county-commissioned Status of Women Report<\/a>, prepared every other year by Florida International University, may not take place after 2025, Rich said. The report examines women\u2019s economic development, health, safety and education in Broward County.<\/p>\n Commissioners also updated the climate change<\/a> section of the county comprehensive plan to remove references to initiatives that support DEI.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say none of us want \u2014 none of the commissioners wanted to do this,\u201d Rich said. \u201cBut you know, as I said, it was just something we had to do, because we’re backed up against the wall when it comes to the state law.\u201d<\/p>\n Susan Spragg is serving her second term on the Racial Equity Task Force. The retired financial worker said the entire task force met every other month. Five subcommittees in areas like healthcare and education met on the months when the entire group did not.<\/p>\n These committees held town halls and produced reports for the County Commission. Spragg\u2019s housing subcommittee focused on increasing home ownership among racial minority groups. Meanwhile, the education subcommittee looked into boosting programs like after-school tutoring, she said.<\/p>\n During the task force\u2019s September meeting, two assistant county administrators shared that the group\u2019s name and mission wouldn\u2019t comply with the DEI ban, Spragg said. Their best option would be to present a motion at the County Commission\u2019s first October meeting to repeal the ordinance establishing the force.<\/p>\n With possible removal hanging over commissioners\u2019 heads, Spragg said she\u2019d be surprised if the commission didn\u2019t agree to shut it down.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we’re at our end,\u201d she said. \u201cOur ending is not going to be a super important, earth-shattering event \u2014 but it’s just a dimming of a light, and a bit of a silencing of what’s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n Funding losses follow trend<\/p>\n The bill\u2019s supporters say it prevents cities<\/a> and counties from funding divisive activities under the guise of DEI.<\/p>\n State Sen. Jason Pizzo, an independent whose jurisdiction includes parts of Broward County, voted in favor of the legislation. In a Senate Community Affairs committee,<\/a> he said prioritizing people of certain races can squeeze out others.<\/p>\n \u201cI do not want my children to be positioned differently, separately or for there to be some delineation because they are or are not something,\u201d he said. \u201cSome people might be surprised to know that places where they think that there should be DEI has overperformance of that.\u201d<\/p>\n In a January report<\/a>, the Florida Department of Government Efficiency criticized Broward County for \u201cplacing the organization\u2019s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion atop its list of qualities sought\u201d when it came to cultural grant funding.<\/p>\n Calibe Thompson, the executive director of Island SPACE<\/a> Caribbean Museum, said she \u201cdisagrees patently\u201d with the premise that celebrating one group detracts from another. It was Broward County funding that helped her get the museum off the ground, she said.<\/p>\n The museum, located in Plantation, is the first and only pan-Caribbean heritage museum in the world, Thompson said. It offers exhibits on icons from Usain Bolt and Bob Marley and takes its culture out into the community with programs like the Mango Festival and Rum Cake Festival.<\/p>\n But maintaining those programs has grown difficult as funding has dried up at the national, state and now local levels, Thompson said.<\/p>\n Members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida applaud outgoing director Mark Kent at the group’s first weekly rehearsal of the upcoming season, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, at the Sunshine Cathedral in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.<\/p>\n First, Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed more than $30 million in state budget grants, including to Island<\/a> SPACE, in 2024. Thompson then learned the museum would also lose an Institute of Museum and Library Services<\/a> African American Museums Grant. Now, county funding is gone, too.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’ve had to just rethink our entire existence,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cWe are struggling.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s not the only one experiencing deja vu. The Gay Men\u2019s Chorus of South Florida, which formed in 2010 in an Oakland Park church hall, will lose about $90,000 from the local funding ban. It lost about the same amount in state funding two years ago.<\/p>\n Mark Kent, the group\u2019s executive director, said laws like these pull the LGBTQ+ community backward. Recently, the county even had to consult with its attorneys before greenlighting the group\u2019s performance at an art festival, he said.<\/p>\n![\"Members](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790434936_64_.png\"\/)
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