Will Donald Trump’s orders threaten Charlotte-area minority business programs, transit?
Will sweeping changes under the Trump administration pose challenges for major Charlotte initiatives? It’s still unclear, local agencies say.
Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump issued orders to slash diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at the federal level as well as curtail DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. Other administration officials also floated tying transportation funding to issues such as birth rates and cooperation with immigration crackdowns.
The city of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools — all of whom rely on significant federal funding — have programs to promote more diversity among the businesses they contract with. And the plan to overhaul the region’s transportation system is contingent in part on federal dollars.
With the full scope of Trump’s actions still unknown, they’re cautiously proceeding with existing plans and programs.
Will Trump end minority, women business programs?
DEI became one of the Trump administrations earliest targets, including an executive order mandating “a government-wide review to ensure that contracts and grants are compliant with the Trump administration’s anti-DEI stance,” the Associated Press reported.
Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and CMS all have “minority-owned, women-owned, and small business enterprise” programs, designed to award government contracts to a more diverse group of companies.
Charlotte spokesman Lawrence Corley told The Charlotte Observer the city doesn’t yet know how Trump’s policies will affect the city’s work.
Despite the uncertainty, the City Council’s budget and intergovernmental relations committee spent much of its February meeting discussing how to grow its minority- and women-owned business program. Committee Chair Dimple Ajmera said during the same meeting council members should include discussions of Trump’s potential funding impacts in upcoming budget workshops.
Mecklenburg County also can’t “speculate on how the awarding of federal dollars may change under the new administration,” county spokeswoman Britt Clampitt said.
“At this time, no policy changes have impacted the County’s support for and inclusion of diverse businesses,” she said.
CMS said in a statement the district will continue to give minority- and women-owned businesses and other vendors “a fair and reasonable opportunity to participate in the CMS procurement process.”
What about transit funding?
Local leaders could also face potential challenges accessing federal dollars for transportation needs under Trump’s policies.
Charlotte’s transportation plan to expand rail and bus offerings and overhaul roads across the region would be funded in part by revenue from a desired sales tax increase. But the plan also calls for $5.9 billion in “additional funding and revenue,” including federal grants and Federal Transit Administration funds.
CATS spokesman Brett Baldeck said it’s “too early to tell what impacts, if any” the Trump administration will have on transportation funding.
The Biden administration pumped significant money into transportation, with a focus on projects to combat climate change such as public transit improvements and expansions, largely through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2021.
But Trump’s Department of Transportation has signaled different approaches.
WFAE reported new Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy authored a memo saying the DOT will give preference when evaluating grants to communities with marriage and birth rates that exceed the national average. Mecklenburg County has an above average birth rate but “far lower” than average marriage rate, the NPR affiliate reported.
Duffy also issued an order threatening to take federal transportation funding away from local governments that don’t participate with federal immigration policies, The New York Times reported.
When Trump was running for office, Mayor Vi Lyles pushed council members to make progress on transportation planning to avoid running into issues getting federal funding.
“We really have to do something,” she said at a council retreat in January 2024. “Because otherwise, we could do a half cent (tax increase), a penny, we could do a nickel, and we wouldn’t have the federal money to help us finish it.”
This January, she told reporters after a Metropolitan Transit Commission meeting Charlotte would “have an opportunity to make our case with the Department of Transportation.”
“What happens in terms of our federal government, we will have to wait to see,” she said. “But I think if you go back and look at the history of this country, there’s not been a president that did not want to see pavement … So that’s something that I think will be ok.”
This story was originally published February 6, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
