Amid Trump’s battle against DEI, nonprofits filling critical labor gaps are caught in the crossfire

CHICAGO (AP) — Recruiting women into construction has for years been a painstaking but broadly popular effort, with growing bipartisan and industry support amid persistent labor shortages. But President Donald Trump’s aim to stamp out diversity and inclusion programs threaten to cripple community-based organizations that have been critical to that goal.

The Trump administration has moved swiftly to cut off federal funding to dozens of community groups that implement programs on the ground, including apprenticeship readiness programs designed for women, anti-harassment training, and child care and transportation support for workers who need them.

The overhaul stems from a pair of anti-DEI executive orders, which direct federal agencies to cancel all “equity-related” grants, and require government contractors and recipients of federal funds to certify, under threat of crippling penalties, that they do not operate any DEI programs that violate anti-discrimination laws.

The orders have set off a scramble among corporations, universities, law firms and major philanthropies to figure out how to adapt their DEI policies to avoid losing federal funding. Some have challenged the executive orders head on.

But for many nonprofits, the orders pose an existential threat because their very mission involves providing services to historically marginalized communities. Several nonprofits that provide housing, health and workforce development services have teamed up with civil rights organizations to file lawsuits challenging the president’s anti-DEI orders, arguing they are so vague about what might constitute “illegal” DEI that compliance is impossible and violates free speech.

Stakeholders in the construction industry are closely following a lawsuit filed by Chicago Women in Trades, an organization founded in 1981 to help women enter the skilled trades. Other similar groups said they were considering litigation after the Department of Labor yanked their grants last week, saying in termination notices that their work promoting gender equity no longer aligns with government priorities.

About 40% of Chicago Women in Trades’ stems from federal funding, according to court filings.

As the lawsuits play out, Chicago Women in Trades Executive Director Jayne Vellinga said hiring and future programming has stalled because the ultimate fate of the organization’s funding is unclear. Current programs are continuing under a cloud of uncertainty.

The sound of whirring drills filled the Ironworkers Local 63 training center just outside Chicago during one exploratory training program that is reliant on state and federal funds. About two dozen women donned hard hats, work gloves and safety glasses to practice assembling windows as an instructor looked on. Two groups raced each other to see how quickly they could perfect each assembly. Another practices caulking nearby.

During the 10-week program, participants spend a week exploring different trades with experienced carpenters, electricians and iron workers. About 70% of the participants successfully move on to apprenticeships.

Sam Barraza, 24, joined the program after struggling with an office job due to ADHD. During a rotation with the Bricklayers Union, Barazza was hired as an apprentice in tuck pointing, a masonry repair process used to restore older buildings.

But Barrazza, who is nonbinary, said they would never have discovered the trade or understood how to get a foothold in the industry without a program like Chicago Women in Trades.

“There are so many insider things that, if your uncle was in the trades, or your dad did it, whatever, you would know,” Barazza said. “It’s the first time I’ve been excited for a career instead of like, ‘I just have to work to live.’”

Government agencies, construction companies and labor unions have invested billions of dollars to expand apprenticeships and other programs to draw younger generations into the skilled trades, an effort that dates back decades but accelerated as the Biden administration ramped up investment in infrastructure and the semiconductor industry.

Key components include initiatives to make worksites more welcoming to women, racial minorities and LGBTQ people who have long faced bias and harassment in an industry that is majority white and overwhelmingly male.

Progress has been slow but steady over the years. Women, for instance, comprise only 4% of skilled trade workers, but that’s a nearly 30% increase since 2018 and a record high, according to U.S. labor statistics that have been celebrated by both gender and racial pay gaps while addressing labor shortages.

Far from being a target during the first Trump administration, Chicago Women in Trades received two grants in 2019 and 2020 under the Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations program, known as WANTO, which dates back to a 1992 Congressional act signed by President George H.W. Bush.

The first Trump administration increased funding for the program and even invited Vellinga to a webinar to tout its accomplishments: more than $8.5 million in grants to 17 community organizations that served more than 3,500 women. Funding for WANTO surged under the Biden administration, which awarded nearly $18 million in grants to more than 20 organizations.

But the future of WANTO is in limbo. Last week, the Labor Department sent termination notices to many of the current grants recipients, saying their work no longer aligns with the administration’s priorities because of their focus on gender equity and diversity, several of the organizations told The Associated Press.

Chicago Women in Trades’ WANTO grant is protected for now under a preliminary injunction issued last month by Judge Matthew Kennelly, of the U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois. Kennelly ruled that canceling the grant would likely violate the Constitution’s separation of power provisions because the funds are congressionally appropriated. He declined to protect Chicago Women in Trades’ four other federal grants.

The Labor Department did not reply to multiple emails seeking clarity about its intentions for WANTO and other similar federal initiatives to expand recruitment in manufacturing and construction.

In his 2026 fiscal year budget request, Trump pledged to keep investing in the expansion of apprenticeship opportunities. But in grant-consolidation proposal dubbed “Make America Skilled Again,” Trump said the Labor Department would eliminate grants to “progressive non-profits” that focus on DEI and instead direct funding to states and localities that will have the flexibility to decide how to spend them. The Trump administration argues that many DEI policies pressure employers to hire based on race or gender, or unfairly shut out some workers from training and funding opportunities.

But construction firms have supported outreach programs to women out of sheer need: The industry is seeking more than 400,000 new workers this year to meet anticipated demand, according to trade group Associated Builders and Contractors.

“We need all of the talent and resources that we can get,” said Vanessa Jester, community and citizenship director for Turner Construction in Columbus, Ohio, where construction worker shortages are especially acute.

The company has partnered Chicago Women in Trades and other community groups to expose women and girls to the construction industry.

“If these young girls can’t see it, feel it, touch it and see that there’s an opportunity, we’re not going to be able to grow,” Jester added.

Turner Construction is one of 800 firms that have joined the “Culture of CARE” program launched in 2019 by the Associated General Contractors of America to address harassment, hazing and bullying that has long plagued in the industry.

The association, which has 27,000 member firms, says on its website that Trump’s executive orders on DEI have prompted a review of its initiative and resources “to ensure continued compliance with the law.”

Brian Turmail, the association’s vice president of Public Affairs & Workforce, said that while the language of some guidance might be changed, the organization plans to double down on “Culture of Care,” saying it’s about preventing discrimination that drives away many women and racial minorities from the field.

“There isn’t any other way for the industry to be viable,” he said.

________ The Associated Press’ women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.