Crime & Law
Chicago Nonprofit Supporting Women in Trades Sues Trump Administration Over Anti-DEI Orders
A Chicago nonprofit supporting women in trade work is suing the Trump administration over executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Chicago Women in Trades Executive Director Jayne Vellinga said the federal lawsuit was necessary to support an underrepresented part of the workforce.
“The executive orders seek to undo all of that progress, which is not where it needs to be, to stop this momentum cold and sort of erase all of the efforts of the past many decades to help women achieve economic equity,” Vellinga said.
The lawsuit challenges two of President Donald Trump’s executive orders ending government support of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The orders call DEI programs illegal and immoral discrimination.
Chicago Women in Trades is represented by a team of civil rights lawyers, including Sabrina Talukder, senior counsel with the Economic Justice Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. She explained there is confusion around the orders because they fail to define or describe the types of DEI activities or speech that could lead organizations to lose their federal grants or contracts.
“They (nonprofits) have to choose between triggering an executive order, living in fear of legal liability or stopping their programs and terminating federal funding altogether,” Talukder said. “Nonprofits should not have to live in fear.”
“All that we are asking is that Chicago Women in Trades can keep its door open and continue doing the work that they have done for 40 years,” Talukder said. “They should not be silenced. They should not live in a state of uncertainty and fear about what they can and cannot do.”
While critics argue DEI focuses on prioritizing race and gender rather than skill, Vellinga said this perspective is far from their reality.
“There’s a very misleading narrative going on about DEI,” Vellinga said. “The one thing that I feel like I need people to understand is that these are not quotas. People are not taking jobs from people. They are getting an opportunity to apply. They are being recruited, so that they fill out their applications, they go through the process. They have an opportunity to show that they are qualified.”
Desiree Guzman is the lead welding program coordinator for Chicago Women in Trades.
“When we go through the program, this is a sanctuary where we learn with each other, and it’s all women and we’re being taught by women,” Guzman said.
She started in the free training program almost seven years ago, wanting to work in the manufacturing industry.
“It’s so important for someone to say you absolutely can do it and help you remove those barriers,” Guzman said.
While welding is a male-dominated field, there’s a growing number of women joining the industry. The nonprofit has helped women like Guzman get there, but now programs like these are in jeopardy.
“We can’t get rid of the progress,” Guzman said. “We have to build on the progress, and that’s why it’s so important to keep fighting.”
Vellinga said 40% of the organization’s budget relies on federal funding. It’s money she said goes toward programming and helping women succeed in a workforce where they represent only 5% of Illinois’ construction sector.
While about 70% of their participants identify as Black or Latino, the organization said its mission is to boost equity for all women.
“Women in the trades put up with a lot,” Vellinga said. “They already work in hostile work environments. They’re already relegated to the least skilled jobs on the site. They already struggle to retain, to stay working. And then … to have our federal government say, ‘None of this is true. You guys have had it easy. You’ve taken jobs away from other people,’ is disorienting to say the least. It is a narrative that has no relationship to our lived experience. What we need is support. What we need is leadership for diversifying our workforce.”
Shortly after a federal judge’s decision to temporarily block Trump’s executive orders targeting DEI programs, another decision by an appeals court lifted the block. It allows the administration to enforce its anti-DEI crackdown while lawsuits, like the one filed by Chicago Women in Trades, await the outcome of legal proceedings.
