In his first week in office, President Donald Trump signed many executive orders, including one that ended Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (D.E.I.) programs for federal employees. This decision has already caused issues for an upcoming local annual event, the tenth annual Black Business Expo.
“It happened pretty fast. It was just business as usual,” said event organizer Jasmin Smith, after finding out her usual volunteers would no longer be able to help this year. “And you know, for us, these events are always a great time to do outreach.”
The Expo, which is set to take place the first weekend in February, is a cultural acknowledgment of “the black businesses, the inventors, the scientists, everybody who created great things in the past that were self-employed entrepreneurs,” according to Smith.
“And we do this event because we want to pay homage to them, but then also show people, the community, that the black businesses of today are history in …