Buckle up. Looks like we're in for a rough ride regarding anything DEI-related with respect to federal funding... #DEI #FederalFunding #Grants #GrantManagement
HUD rejected the City of Asheville, NC’s Community Development Block Grant application because it included some “DEI” language. If you recall, this city and the surrounding area were devastated by Hurricane Helene. The agency cited that it rejected the application because of its focus on the allocation of funding for minority and women-owned businesses. For those unfamiliar with federal procurement, this is a statutory requirement and included in 2 CFR 200. We are now seeing statutory requirements conflict with executive orders. I expect more agency decisions like this and potential changes to some of those procurement requirements in the Uniform Guidance. Prepare yourselves as even HUD Secretary Scott Turner stated, “DEI is dead at HUD.” See a link to an article about this in the comments. ??