Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
Nearly a year after Mayor Cherelle L. Parker<\/a> announced that Philadelphia would move away from using its long-held diversity goals<\/a> in awarding public contracts, a City Council committee on Monday formally recommended that the city codify the change.<\/p>\n However, several corporate leaders who advised the special committee\u2019s work testified during a hearing that the shift away from race- and gender-conscious contracting would set the city back.<\/p>\n Craig T. Williams, founder of the construction firm Pride Enterprises, said the city\u2019s move to provide contracting advantages to businesses certified as \u201csmall and local\u201d \u2014 instead of to businesses owned by women, minorities, and people who are disabled \u2014 will make it harder for Black-owned firms like his to grow.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the new terminology is intended to retain support for diverse businesses, it also removes the intentional mechanisms that once created predictable access for them,\u201d Williams said. \u201cThe shift in terminology will likely result in an increase in opportunities for non-diverse firms, widening the disparity gap.\u201d<\/p>\n And Michael Brown, CEO of The 360 Group, a consulting firm, said \u201cminority businesses across Philadelphia are witnessing a catastrophic erosion of margins, pushing foundational enterprises to the brinks of collapse.\u201d<\/p>\n He cited data showing that the state government awards only a small portion of its contracts to Black- and Hispanic-owned businesses.<\/p>\n \u201cPhiladelphia is slowly sleepwalking down the same exact destructive path,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Internal documents shed light on Mayor Cherelle L. Parker\u2019s decision to end Philadelphia\u2019s racial diversity goals in contracting<\/a><\/p>\n Council\u2019s Special Committee on City and Private Sector Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Policies, which is led by business community leaders, was convened in 2024 by Council President Kenyatta Johnson<\/a>. The group was charged with drafting recommendations to strengthen the city\u2019s DEI policies and address barriers faced by women, people of color, and people with disabilities who own businesses.<\/p>\n In the midst of the committee\u2019s work, Parker\u2019s administration last year quietly eliminated the city\u2019s goal<\/a> of awarding 35% of its government contracts to those businesses.<\/p>\n The city also stopped assigning participation \u201cranges\u201d to publicly funded projects, meaning contractors are no longer given benchmarks for the amount of dollars that should go to subcontractors and suppliers owned by people of color, women, and people who are disabled.<\/p>\n The change came amid a broader dismantling of affirmative action-style programs at the federal level led by President Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s administration. Parker said a new national legal precedent<\/a> made the city\u2019s practices vulnerable to court challenges, so the administration will now aim to give preference to businesses<\/a> that are certified as small and local.<\/p>\n