Changes in Philadelphia’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies are designed to comply with new court rulings

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Mayor Cherelle Parker signed a new order Tuesday that reworks the city’s  contracting and procurement policies after settling a lawsuit that challenged the city’s guidelines for diversity, equity and inclusion.

The updated order is designed to remove legal risk from the city’s “aspirational goals” for diversity in the city’s procurement and contracting processes.

City Solicitor Renee Garcia said after evaluating court decisions, the city had to develop a new way to make sure diversity and inclusion were part of city contracts.

“This is the way forward,” she said. “This is how we are going to have a better program. We are going to be legally compliant, we’re going to do it on our terms and we are going to realize the mayor’s vision of economic opportunity for all.”

Nadir Jones, director of the Office of Business Impact and Economic Advancement, said that instead of using phases such as “minority-owned,” they will change their language to support small and local businesses.

“We will continue to set narrowly tailored ranges and targets for city procurement based on small and local business availability,” Jones said. “We will establish bid preferences for local businesses.”

Jones added that the city is not abandoning the businesses that have received work from the city, just rewriting the regulations. City officials expect the majority of those who have gotten work before to still receive preferential treatment.

“We’re not abandoning the businesses in the city that has worked in the past,” he said.

“The old programs aren’t working, the studies show it and we know it,” said Mayor Cherelle Parker after signing the executive order. “We knew we needed to shift our strategy before it even became a legal necessity to do so.”

Parker said it’s taken some time to figure out the best way to deal with the issue.

“The old system is a broken system. And now it’s our job and our responsibility to fix it and that is exactly what we are going to do. The reality is Philadelphia’s DEI and contracting policies are in violation of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling from 2023 in the case involving Harvard University’s admissions policies.”

The mayor explained that the changes will be for the better.

“We are at war with the status quo because it just was not working here in the city of Philadelphia,” she said.

As part of the effort, the city will work on fixing the slow payment system, which has been a hindrance for some businesses, preventing them from bidding on city work. The new system aims to address that and will help small businesses handle city contracts and be paid for their work promptly.

The mayor asked people to give the changes a chance.

“I come to you as someone who has fought to build a seat at the table for under-represented people every day of my career. There is no one who needs to give me a speech or have me read a white paper on what it’s like to navigate a world at the intersection of race and gender, because I’ve done it,” she said.

City officials say the new standard should survive court review and will be inclusive of the businesses that formerly qualified under the old rules.