On February 26, 2025, Chicago-based nonprofit Chicago Women in Trades (CWIT) filed a new lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders that severely restrict and chill Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives. Approximately 70 percent of CWIT’s participants identify as Black and Latina women. As a recipient of federal grant programs, the recent executive orders directly threaten to eliminate CWIT’s ability to continue its critical role in expanding economic opportunity and mobility for women.

The executive orders call for the termination of “equity-related” federal grants and contracts, which nonprofits like CWIT rely on to provide life-changing services to women in non-traditional occupations. CWIT prepares women across the country to enter and build careers in the high-wage skilled trades. Black and Latina women remain severely underrepresented in this sector due to racial- and gender-based structural barriers, making CWIT’s work vital for opening doors to economic opportunity.

CWIT is represented by a team of civil rights lawyers from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and pro-bono counsel Crowell & Moring LLP, along with the National Women’s Law Center, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, and Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. Read the full lawsuit here.