In the month since Donald Trump took office, it’s been hard to focus on any one thing that has come down as a result of his administration’s punitive policies. If it wasn’t DOGE hacking sensitive information, it’s been plane crashes in the wake of firings of key FAA staff, or immigrants being terrorized by the push to get rid of anyone who speaks Spanish, or fears of inflation since the price of eggs keeps rising.

But for many Americans, massive rollbacks on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs in the federal government have been top of mind, especially as companies in the private sector followed suit. According to USAFacts.org, more than 18 percent of the federal workforce was African American in a 2023 report, and Hispanic Americans rose to 9.5 percent (it should be noted, however, because of new federal policies, that report is no longer available on the Office of Personnel Management website, but can be found thanks to the efforts of Archive.org and others).

The rollbacks are a particular concern among those who find positions through professional organizations that serve as networks to feed talented prospects to government agencies and large corporations — along with those who advocate for diversity in employment.

Agencies and companies seeking to find qualified candidates will feel the strain sooner rather than later, despite the widely debunked suggestion that only white men are qualified. Take St. Louis, where companies such as Boeing are heavy employers=. That company quietly sunset its DEI program in late 2024 as the writing on the wall became more clear that the federal government would be frowning on the very concept of diversity. Among the results: the resignation of Sara Liang Bowen, the company’s chief inclusion officer.

Ronald Moore, director of the Pre-College Initiative for the National Society of Black Engineers St. Louis Gateway chapter, said that many of the members of his organization who work in government and for large companies like Boeing are winding down their careers, but other members are in probationary periods and when they lose their jobs, that can create a gap of institutional knowledge. DEI rollbacks present a significant challenge going forward.

Notably, Trump administration policy required the U.S. Military Academy, commonly known as West Point, to shut down its NSBE chapter. The military also backed out of recruiting at one of the group’s conferences because of the policy.

“Those who are at the tail ends of their careers can look and see what this entails,” said Moore, who is also president of St. Louis-based Synergy Construction Group. “The firings of people in government because of DEI is having an impact because the more experienced people will leave if you p— them off.”

“On the other hand, they have also cut off hires who are in their two-year probationary period so now you have a gap because the people with institutional knowledge left abruptly,” Moore said.

Trump’s Executive Order 14151 mandates an explicit reversal of the Biden Administration’s own Executive Order 13985, which supports racial equity initiatives through government channels. It claims to take a “color blind” approach to dealing with government practices but ironically is blind to racial disparities in hiring and contracting.

The impact of DEI rollbacks has also resulted in professional organizations preparing their members for what could be a tenuous period of layoffs, firing and pressure to resign. David Graves, president of Blacks in Government (BIG), wrote on the organization’s website that an emergency meeting has been planned with its leaders and even advised members to remove their work emails from member profiles, among other proactive measures.

“This crisis is bigger than BIG; hence my focus is on strategically partnering with like-minded organizations,” he wrote, also adding: “This may get worse before it gets better. We need to woodshed and use this time to educate and prepare financially and mentally.”

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