When the Trump administration froze federal funding for the Gateway Program, officials pointed to concerns over the DBE program.
Photographer: Michael Nagle/BloombergA Push to ‘Level the Playing Field’ Threatens Minority- and Women-Owned Businesses
The DBE program no longer considers gender or race as evidence of disadvantage.
Vicki Volponi, who sells construction supplies near Charleston, South Carolina, was in a good groove for most of last year. She was on track to book nearly $10 million in sales for the second year in a row and, with a new warehouse in Ohio and more heavy machinery, was expanding her business into new territory. Then, in October, the federal framework she relied on for the bulk of her business — known as the DBE program — came to a screeching halt.
“It’s like having a table and they kick the legs out from under you,” she said. Contracts worth nearly $1 million have since vanished from her pipeline. She has had to give up warehouse space and is preparing for a stretch of lean times with no definite end in sight. “My fear is, I’m going to be left behind.”