Updates from Colleen P. Meiman, National Policy Advisor for State Associations of Community Health Centers —
On February 26, US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) canceled awards for eight contractors following a review of their websites and LinkedIn profiles. These contractors provided technical assistance for public housing, and the cancellations were based on their expressed support for DEI in public forums, not the nature of their HUD-funded activities.
The contractors plan to sue HUD to have their contracts reinstated, but this process will likely take years. In the meantime, they are preparing for large-scale layoffs. Also, HUD staff report that reviews of other contractors’ and grantees’ webpages will begin shortly. While we’ve not heard any reports of similar actions at HHS, it’s reasonable to expect that this new policy could spread there.
This development highlights the importance of PCAs and CHCs giving serious consideration to “scrubbing” their webpages, email signatures, and other on-presence to remove any references to DEI. When doing this analysis, please consider:
- Technically, the Exec Order forcing PCAs and CHCs to affirm that they “do not operate any programs promoting DEI” is not yet in effect on Section 330 grantees. Nonetheless, yesterday’s action shows that failure to “scrub” their on-line presence for DEI references could lead the Administration to try to cancel their grant immediately (or otherwise “flag” them for some negative treatment.) Thus, the downsides of “preemptive compliance” should be weighed against the risk of losing Section 330 grant funds with little notice
- There’s a key difference between words (on a website, email signature, LinkedIn, etc.) and values/ practices. Simply changing words does not automatically mean that you are changing your core values or mission. But losing Federal funding could threaten that mission.
