Orlando City Council on Monday moved forward with creating a program intended to prioritize small businesses in the contract procurement process, as a Trump-compliant alternative to the city’s former Minority and Women Business Enterprise Program program.
The city’s MWBE program, first established in the early 1980s, served to help businesses owned by minorities and women procure more contracts with the city, in an effort to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the procurement process.
An executive order released earlier this year by the Trump administration, however, directed government entities to scrap all DEI-related programs and initiatives, describing them as “unlawful,” “corrosive,” and even a violation of civil rights law. The city, fearful of retaliation, subsequently moved forward with suspending its program this past June, at the urging of the city’s attorney.
“Illegal DEI and DEIA policies not only violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws, they also undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system,” the January executive order, released by the White House, reads.
“Hardworking Americans who deserve a shot at the American Dream should not be stigmatized, demeaned, or shut out of opportunities because of their race or sex.”
Details of the city’s new small and business enterprise program, including definitions for what’s considered a “local” or “small” business, are yet to be determined, according to the Orlando Sentinel. According to the ordinance approved Monday, the program is intended to “provide small and local businesses sufficient opportunities to meaningfully participate in the award of City contracts, where permitted by applicable law.”
City staff collectively manage hundreds of contracts, worth more than $1 billion, for construction work, security services, equipment, lobbying and other professional services.
Orlando city attorney Mayanne Downs warned city officials in June that keeping the city’s MWBE program in place — in light of President Trump’s anti-DEI executive order — could jeopardize the city’s federal funding assistance. Orange County’s legal team similarly shared concerns of the county losing out on federal funds, or county officials even potentially facing jail time, if the county retained its own MWBE program.
“I spent a full career putting people in jail — I don’t plan on going to jail because of violating the law,” quipped Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings at the time, as a former Orange County sheriff and Orlando police chief.
Along with the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, both the city and county moved to suspend their own MWBE programs this summer, in order to remain compliant with the Trump administration’s anti-DEI directive.
Still, local leaders have expressed some concerns over the programs’ dissolution, even though a 2023 study of Orange County’s program identified a “significant underutilization” of minority and women-owned businesses in the procurement process already. The programs, similar across local municipalities, essentially offered preference in the contract procurement process to companies that were minority-owned.
City officials hope that this new small business program, similar to a proposal that Orange County commissioners are working on finalizing themselves, will allow the city to continue supporting small business owners in Orlando without running afoul of the White House. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer confirmed they’ve been collaborating with Orange County staff on the initiative.
“We have been working collaboratively with the county to try to have consistent policies related to the creation of the small local business preference programs, so that there could be, potentially, reciprocity,” said Dyer on Monday. “And so that our small and local businesses won’t have to go through the red tape of different types of policies at the city and county [level].”
Ironically, Trump during his first administration — from 2017 to 2021 — publicly celebrated the contributions of minority-owned businesses, noting in a 2017 briefing that “[the] Trump Administration is committed to creating a business climate in which minority business enterprises can thrive and expand.”
In Florida, efforts to gut DEI-related initiatives throughout the state and local governments, and the higher education and school systems, have been actively pursued by state leaders for years.
Under Trump, much of the right-wing policy agenda that has been pursued on a state level —including the erosion of social welfare programs — has since January been replicated (or otherwise pursued) on a federal level, with the involvement or support of familiar actors like the Heritage Foundation and the Florida-based Foundation for Government Accountability.
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