The diversity pledges flooded corporate inboxes across the country as protests filled the streets over George Floyd, a Black man who died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer in 2020.
At the time, conversations about systemic racism were front and center, and Rhode Island – like much of the rest of the nation – threw its weight behind diversity, equity and inclusion. State agencies launched new initiatives, nonprofits received DEI-focused grants, and local institutions pledged to make widespread changes.
Fast forward to 2025, and the movement is facing a powerful headwind.
With the return of President Donald Trump’s administration in January and the wave of federal executive orders aimed at dismantling DEI efforts, many organizations in Rhode Island’s public and private sectors have found themselves at a crossroads of sorts: deciding whether to continue investing in racial equity or retreat in the face of political and legal pressure.
At the corporate level, for instance, Lincoln-based Amica Mutual Insurance Co. – one of the state’s largest employers at 3,500 local workers – has held firm to its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
“We have not backed down from this commitment, nor have we eliminated any programs or staff related to this important work,” said spokesperson Brendon Dowding.
For other organizations, the situation has proved to be a test of their resolve as they weigh their continued investment in diversity initiatives.
Kevin Matta, board president at Diversity & Inclusion Professionals Inc., says the nonprofit remains committed to its work but funding for promoting and supporting statewide DEI efforts has been restricted.
“We’ve seen a definite shift in dollars,” Matta said. “We’re already a small organization. Federal funding has been restricted from us, and we also rely a lot on sponsorships.”
Many of DAIP’s traditional sponsors have halted partner agreements, says Matta, who also serves as senior director of people, culture and operations at United Way of Rhode Island Inc.
Matta says some will not speak publicly about DEI – let alone entering an agreement with DAIP – for fear of federal retribution. He declined to identify the sponsors who have pulled back or the dollar amounts lost.
Meanwhile, Matta said DAIP is in the process of “expanding [its DEI] language,” in part to prevent the loss of more sponsors.
Others are quietly reassessing or scaling back, particularly companies that are federal contractors or are regulated by federal agencies.
One example: Providence-based Citizens Financial Group Inc. dropped references to DEI in its annual report this year, softening the language to “culture of inclusion.” Other large banks nationwide have discreetly taken similar steps.
Many businesses aren’t eager to draw attention to such matters. Citizens and numerous other local companies declined to comment for this story.
That’s likely because decisions on DEI can come with consequences. In one case, retailer Target Corp. faced a backlash from civil rights organizations when it scaled back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and other organizations say they’ve suffered for sticking with DEI.
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SPEAK UP: Rhode Island Black Business Association CEO and President Lisa Ranglin says public support for diversity, equity and inclusion is badly lacking among local for-profit companies.
PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY[/caption]
“We’ve lost funding for unapologetically standing by DEI; we’ve lost grants, had to cut staff and programs,” said Lisa Ranglin, CEO and president of the Rhode Island Black Business Association. “It’s hard not to feel targeted and bullied by Trump for doing so.”
RIPPLE EFFECTS
The actions by Trump have been swift. On his inauguration day in January, he signed an executive order terminating DEI programs and mandates in federal agencies. Another order removed affirmative action requirements for federal contractors and mandated that those contractors and grantees certify that they do not operate “illegal” DEI programs.
The changes have had a ripple effect across contractors, nonprofits, municipalities and universities.
In April, Brown University began reassessing its DEI policies and leadership, aiming to balance compliance with its stated commitment to inclusion after the Trump administration threatened to cut $510 million in federal funds over its handling of antisemitism and DEI programs.
DEI critics have argued that the federal government’s shift is part of an effort to end “reverse discrimination,” refocusing hiring, contracts and college admissions on merit and qualifications, not on demographics.
In the private sector, critics assert, there are other downsides to DEI, diverting attention and resources away from other operational priorities, reducing efficiency and focus.
“I just don’t think it’s good business,” said Michael Stenhouse, executive director of the conservative, free-market public policy group Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity. “It’s a nice concept, but it doesn’t lead to corporate success.”
Despite the federal pushback, many of the state’s organizations and companies across a wide swath of industries appear to be standing firm on DEI, including Rhode Island’s largest health insurer Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, which in February awarded nearly $600,000 in grants for housing equity and was recently recognized nationally for its disability inclusion efforts.
“It’s a commitment to families, real people, not just numbers or company policies,” Ranglin said. “Trump’s DEI directives are impacting real people.”
City Personnel Inc., a staffing agency based in Providence, is one of those companies that’s staying the course.
“For us, DEI has never been a trend,” said Dawn Apajee, founder and president, who is also a woman of color. “It’s always been part of who we are.”
Although the company doesn’t rely on federal grants, Apajee says the nature of City Personnel’s business – which provides legal, administrative, accounting and support staffing – calls for a commitment to diversity.
At Rhode Island Energy, the state’s primary utility that employs more than 1,200 people, the company says it, too, is holding its ground on DEI policies.
Spokesperson Caroline Pretyman says that DEI informs everything the utility does “from how we collaborate internally to how we service our customers and engage with our communities.”
One ongoing commitment is Rhode Island Energy Foundation’s Empowering Communities Grant, which awards $1,000 to $50,000 to nonprofits for education, environmental conservation and youth leadership – with explicit goals on advancing diversity, equity and inclusion.
There has been some fallout elsewhere.
When Pawtucket-based global toy maker Hasbro Inc. set DEI goals two years ago to boost women in global leadership to 50% and increase U.S. racial and ethnic diversity to 25% by 2025, it found itself the target of a federal civil rights complaint.
In the complaint submitted to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, conservative group America First Legal accused the company of using unlawful race- and gender-based hiring practices to meet the goals, citing Hasbro’s own DEI reports as evidence.
The EEOC complaint is still under investigation as of July. An outcome in Hasbro’s favor now seems unlikely, considering the current political climate, Ranglin says.
Requests for comment from Hasbro were not returned.
A REVERSAL
In at least one case, the pressure was too great.
Providence-based Bally’s Corp. launched an initial public offering in December for its Bally’s Chicago $1.7 billion casino project, but it was only open to women and people of color, according to the company’s U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing at the time.
The reason: It was an effort to comply with a host community agreement Bally’s had reached with Chicago officials requiring that 25% of the casino’s ownership be held by women and minorities.
But the $200 million IPO quickly spurred two federal lawsuits alleging that the plan illegally discriminated against white men. At the same time, the company said, approval of the stock offering by the Trump-influenced SEC was stalled.
As a result, Bally’s removed the gender- and minority-based eligibility rules from the IPO in April.
Still, while one lawsuit was withdrawn and the other settled, the SEC has yet to approve the amended IPO registration.
A representative for Bally’s declined to comment.
Other businesses have made changes in more subtle ways.
In February, Woonsocket-based CVS Health Corp. deleted its “Supplier Diversity” webpage without any announcement. While the company still maintains an active DEI team and continues training programs, the size and visibility of these efforts appear to have declined.
A Washington Post analysis of SEC filings of S&P 500 companies since 2020 found that CVS was one of numerous companies that mentioned DEI significantly fewer times in its 2024 annual report than years earlier. In CVS’ case, mentions of DEI dropped from 20 to 25 times annually between 2021 and 2023 to fewer than five in 2024, according to the Post report.
The other Rhode Island-based S&P 500 companies – Hasbro, Citizens and Textron Inc. – also had fewer than five mentions in 2024.
Some observers say there had already been a shift in corporate DEI initiatives, sparked by conservative groups such as the ones that targeted Hasbro and Bally’s and given more fuel by a 2023 Supreme Court decision ending affirmative action in college admission.
Stenhouse, a DEI critic, says private companies may have more latitude when it comes to defending their DEI practices, but now there are more hazards, too.
“It does place them at risk of a lawsuit,” he said.
But Ranglin believes that, in some cases, there are other reasons for the retreat.
“For some companies, I imagine Trump’s DEI directive was music to their ears, those that were never really committed from the jump and were just paying a lot of lip service to it,” Ranglin said. “Now they have an excuse to roll things back.”
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DIVERSE COMMUNITY: Charles Carvalho, who was appointed as the first chief equity officer of Pawtucket in 2023, says the city is emphasizing diversity and equal opportunity in its hiring and personnel practices as part of fostering an inclusive work environment.
PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
HOLDING THE LINE
Defiance to federal pressure can be found on a civic level, where the stakes for doing so could be costly.
Like most municipalities across the country, the city of Pawtucket receives significant federal funding – including $1.7 million earmarked this year in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grants – making the city potentially vulnerable to funding freezes by federal agencies over DEI policies.
Nevertheless, Pawtucket hasn’t moved to scale back its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Charles Carvalho, appointed as the city’s first chief equity officer in 2023, says upholding DEI is essential in a city as diverse as Pawtucket, where 24.6% of residents are Hispanic and 14.6% are Black or African American, census data shows.
For instance, Carvalho says, the city is still emphasizing diversity and equal opportunity in its hiring and personnel practices, aiming to foster an inclusive work environment.
“The city of Pawtucket is and has always been a diverse community. So, of course, we’re staying committed [to DEI],” Carvalho said. “For decades, people from all corners of the globe have called our little city home.”
State leaders have stood behind DEI efforts, which date back to 2014, when the R.I. Division of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion was created.
More recently, in December, the DEDI and R.I. Commerce Corp. launched the Rhode Map to Success pilot program to help minority-, women-, disadvantaged-, and veteran-owned small businesses compete for state contracts.
Notably, Gov. Daniel J. McKee nominated Tracey Wiley, executive director of DEI at Bally’s, to the R.I. Commerce board in May, a signal that the state’s executive branch isn’t looking to curtail diversity strategies.
And in April, Attorney General Peter F. Neronha joined 18 other states in suing the U.S. Department of Education over threats to cut funding from public school districts that maintain DEI programs.
For Rhode Island, over $116 million in federally mandated annual education funding is on the line, according to Neronha’s office, which described the potential loss as “catastrophic.”
“This state has leaders who aren’t afraid to stand up for what’s right,” said Weayonnoh Nelson-Davies, executive director of the progressive group Economic Progress Institute. “That bravery is empowering companies and organizations here. That’s why you’re seeing some defiance.”
But it seems as though Rhode Island’s efforts to stand by and defend DEI practices haven’t gone unnoticed by the federal government, signaling growing tension between the state and the Trump administration.
Initially, the U.S. Department of Justice began investigating the R.I. Department of Education and the Providence Public School District in March for offering a race-based loan forgiveness program that may have violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
By June, the DOJ informed the state that it was also investigating affirmative action practices throughout the state government.
Nelson-Davies says that those who have been forced to defend their DEI policies in court have been largely successful.
“States, companies and organizations that have pushed back have been successful against the preliminary injunctions filed against them,” Nelson-Davies said. “It’s worth fighting back against.”
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TALK IT OVER: Founder and President Dawn Apajee speaks with recruiting specialist Britt Phillips, seated, at professional staffing agency City Personnel Inc. in Providence.
PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
‛SPEAK UP’
Indeed, since Trump’s second term began in January, local organizations have pushed back in court against federal actions targeting DEI programs.
In March, Rhode Island Latino Arts and other groups sued the National Endowment for the Arts over a new grant rule requiring applicants to disavow “gender ideology.” They argued it violated the First and Fifth amendments and was unconstitutionally vague. Though the court denied an injunction, it questioned the rule’s legality, prompting the NEA to withdraw it for review.
In June, the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence and 16 other state groups sued the Trump administration in federal court in Providence over DOJ grants with funding conditions that prohibit gender ideology and DEI programs. The lawsuit is ongoing.
At the same time, charities and philanthropic groups across Rhode Island are still backing their commitment to diversity and equity with significant investments and impactful statewide initiatives.
Programs such as the Rhode Island Foundation’s Equity Leadership Initiative, a $2 million minority business accelerator, are working to advance equity and inclusion across the state.
“National transitions of power have a real impact on the day-to-day lives of all Rhode Islanders, and on the organizations that help our communities prosper,” said Anna Cano Morales, the foundation’s vice president of equity and incl usion.
Meanwhile, United Way of Rhode Island is investing $100 million over a period of five years through its DEI-focused LIVE UNITED 2025 plan. The nonprofit is also launching the 2025 Equity Challenge to promote inclusion statewide.
Ranglin says this type of public support is badly lacking among local for-profit companies.
“From RIBBA’s perspective, these companies are using this as a way out to shift funding from social responsibility projects, projects that sounded ‘nice to have’ from a corporate standpoint but that likely never had any real company support,” Ranglin said. “Companies have to stand by and speak up. Don’t be silent, and don’t sit on the sidelines.”
