ST. LOUIS — St. Louis officials have decided to suspend a program that certifies businesses as minority- and women-owned, citing the Trump administration’s opposition to diversity initiatives.
St. Louis Development Corp. told applicants that “enforcement action” by the U.S. Department of Justice prompted the agency to put the CertifySTL program on hold while it seeks legal guidance on next steps.
“We recognize the impact this may have on your business and operations, and we sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding during this time,” read a message sent to applicants.
The certification program verifies whether businesses qualify as minority- and women-owned businesses, enabling them to vie for government contracts, construction work and other deals that have minority participation requirements. The program aims to reduce barriers of growth for historically disenfranchised groups in industries like construction that are majority white and male.
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Thousands of local businesses have the certification.
An agency spokesman confirmed the program’s suspension and urged developers and contractors to contact SLDC’s compliance office for details on how the decision might affect their ongoing projects.
“Due to changes in federal policies impacting federal funding to municipalities which operate diversity, equity and inclusion-related programming, compliance monitoring and enforcement ... have been paused until further notice while the city works to accommodate the changed federal landscape,” spokesman Deion Broxton said in a statement.
He said other program requirements, such as prevailing wage and city resident and apprentice utilization, would remain in effect.
The Trump administration has targeted diversity initiatives across the public and private sectors, calling diversity, equity and inclusion efforts “radical,” “harmful,” “divisive” and “discriminatory.”
In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that broadly outlined his administration’s goals for eliminating these initiatives. It prompted national corporations to scale back or eliminate diversity programs and imperiled grant programs and federal funding across the country.
Locally, a developer indicted for lying about the use of minority contractors to obtain city tax breaks is aiming to capitalize on the new administration’s direction. The developer, Sid Chakraverty of Lux Living, hired the brother of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to represent him in his federal case, arguing that the city’s minority hiring law is unconstitutional.
The certification program started years ago and was supervised by St. Louis Lambert International Airport until last year when SLDC took over. It now oversees certification for the entire St. Louis region.
SLDC’s board approved a three-year, $175,000 contract with Phoenix-based B2Gnow — the same company Lambert used — for the certification management software.
But the agency faced months of backlogs in certifying or recertifying businesses before it halted the program due to Trump’s initiative.
Annie Holland, owner of The Pharos Group, a Manchester-based environmental consulting group, said she applied for recertification in September.
She received no updates on her application or why it was taking so long until last week when someone from CertifySTL attributed the delay to the Trump administration.
She said that message left her confused — her certification as a federal disadvantaged business enterprise, a separate but similar designation overseen by the U.S. Department of Transportation, was renewed on May 30.
Late Thursday, SLDC issued a statement that said its directory of minority- and women-owned certifications but not updated. Those with pending recertification would remain on the certification list.
Companies are encouraged to call CertifySTL at 314-327-7234 or the Northside Economic Empowerment Center at 314-617-0360.
Sixty years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led a rally protesting housing discrimination and segregated schools in Boston, hundreds of people gathered at the same site to honor and reflect on the historic event. The rally was held Saturday at the Boston Common near the site of a 20-foot-high memorial to racial equity, which shows King embracing his wife, Coretta Scott King.
