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Amid Trump's war on DEI, advocates fear job trainings, scholarships for disadvantaged groups could be at risk

Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Related : Advertisement 'To put a low-income student into a high-wage job changes the entire life trajectory of their family for generations,' said Sarah Cherry Rice, who runs the Boston nonprofit Digital Ready, which helps students of color earn college credit and gain work experience in science and technology fields. 'It changes what they have access to, the resources they can bring, their social connections, the capital, the network. They're bringing that all back to their family.' The median wealth of Black families increased significantly in recent years as housing values grew, according to Federal Reserve data analyzed by the , but the racial wealth gap continued to widen. In 2022, the median wealth of white households was $285,000, but only $44,980 for Black families and $62,000 for non-white Latino households — a divide Brookings attributes to 'centuries of discrimination in public policy, financial practices, and societal norms' that the country has yet to overcome. Advertisement Designating funds to support communities of color is crucial to bridging this gap, said Orlando Watkins, chief program officer at The Boston Foundation. The nonprofit, which is focused on equity, remains committed to funding communities of color, he said, but the Trump administration's anti-DEI proclamations have had 'a real chilling effect' on organizations the foundation partners with. Some corporate donors are pulling back or reprioritizing funds, he said, and some nonprofits are softening language emphasizing diversity and inclusion to align with donors' attempts to 'stay out of harm's way.' Earlier this week, the Boston Foundation announced $2 million in grants to be awarded this spring to social service organizations that serve LGBTQ+ individuals, immigrants, and other vulnerable populations. 'At a time when the basic rights and well-being of hundreds of thousands of our neighbors are under assault, and each day brings renewed questions about the ability of our institutions to meet their commitments, we cannot afford to sit idly by,' president Lee Pelton said in a statement. The real tragedy, Watkins said, is that the country finally seemed to be recognizing the importance of lifting up disadvantaged populations during the racial reckoning following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Related : 'It is our shared responsibility to try to create equity,' he said, 'not only for the individual who would benefit from that scholarship or that grant or loan, but for our entire society.' Advertisement Research by Ayanna Lott-Pollard, executive director of Resilient Coders, worries that companies that have sought out her program's graduates may scale back recruiting efforts to 'stay out of the limelight.' 'Particularly in industries like tech, the DEI initiatives have played a crucial role — not just a minor role, a crucial role — in increasing access to these high-paying careers for those underrepresented, and, I like to say, underestimated communities," she said. But the DEI movement, which has roots in the 'The noise was pretty loud about the reckoning, but the systemic changes were small,' she said. 'If it took four years to build that little bit of equity and wealth; I would say it's probably going to be wiped out in six months.' The momentum that built in the aftermath of Floyd's death was more about 'joining the popular movement of the time' than in addressing inequalities, said Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, president of the Advertisement 'People are going with the tide,' he said. And no one is sure how far out the current tide will go. Buying a house is a major factor in building wealth, and it's not clear what will happen if efforts to support disadvantaged populations' homeownership rates come under fire. awards up to $50,000 to people of color under a certain income level trying to buy their first home. FHLBank Boston said in a statement that it 'remains committed to offering a variety of programs that promote affordable homeownership opportunities.' Several people who have benefited from programs geared toward assisting marginalized communities declined to talk to the Globe because of concerns about being targeted in the current political climate. The anti-DEI blowback has been so intense in part because diversity programs have been lumped in with unrelated efforts that are unpopular, Joun said, including cancel culture, transgender rights, even environmentally conscious paper straws. DEI was also singled out for blame in several recent disasters, including the fires in Los Angeles — where the first woman and openly LGBTQ firefighter to lead the fire department was accused of being a Advertisement If the ripple effects of the backlash against diversity and inclusion efforts continue to grow, they could have an impact on ambitious students like Joselyne Cordero. Cordero, 21, came to the United States from the Dominican Republic as a child, and her mother, who works as a janitor at Fenway Park, struggled to raise her and her younger sisters on her own. During high school, Cordero got involved with Digital Ready and was able to earn 18 college credits for free and get a partial scholarship to Wentworth Institute of Technology. Now Cordero, the first member of her family to graduate from high school, is a second-year architecture student, and her 17-year-old sister is also thinking about college. Without the help she got from Digital Ready, including a part-time job as a teaching assistant that helps pay her family's bills, she said, 'I wouldn't be following this path.' Digital Ready is funded by local foundations and state and city grants, and so far, its partners have remained supportive, said Rice, the director. But she worries about the hiring pipeline as major tech companies pull back DEI initiatives and chief diversity officer positions disappear. Additional funding opportunities could also be at risk. Rice had been looking into applying for a $5 million The grant, it seems, is no longer available. This story was produced by the Globe's team, which covers the racial wealth gap in Greater Boston. You can sign up for the newsletter . Katie Johnston can be reached at