Sticking with DEI Is “the Right Thing to Do”

Two local organizations refuse to ditch their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts

By Jillian Manning | May 31, 2025

Five years ago, following the murder of George Floyd, DEI was suddenly everywhere. Businesses and nonprofits of all shapes and sizes were touting diversity, equity, and inclusion mission statements, staffing, training, and more to address disparities in the workplace and in their communities.

A quick primer on DEI: The concept, if not the term itself, has been around at least since the Civil Rights Movement. Sometimes the initialism is written as DEIB (B for belonging) or DEIA (A for Accessibility). According to the United Nations, DEI efforts are intended to assist those who have been historically discriminated against based on age, disability, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, race, religion, and sexual orientation. The International Labour Organisation also includes HIV/AIDS status, political opinion, national extraction, social origin, pregnancy/parental status, and trade union membership/activities.

Northern Express has been following the ups and downs of DEI activity here in northern Michigan over the years. The peak was in 2021, when local organizations were clamoring to tell us about their DEI programs and new hires. This year, when we reached out to many of those same groups, we heard crickets, received vague email statements, or had interviews declined.

Some of those local businesses have scrubbed their websites of all DEI mentions, while others are reviewing or amending their programs. Of course, the elephant in the room is the Trump Administration’s stance on DEI, which President Trump has called “illegal discrimination.” (More on that in the sidebar.)

So who is left standing? Two organizations we reached out to agreed to go on the record: the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation and Northern Michigan E3.

Doing the Work

“The Community Foundation continues to be committed to its equity and inclusion work, despite all the political headwinds,” says GTRCF president and CEO David Mengebier. “There’s this misconception among some people that this is somehow a zero-sum game, where, if we direct grant funding to BIPOC, LGBTQ+, or disabilities communities, to people who struggle to make ends meet or people experiencing mental illness or substance use disorders, that this somehow takes away resources from others. And that’s simply not true.”

In 2021, GTRCF started their Diversity Equity Inclusion Fund, and in 2024, created a separate Endowment for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Both funding sources provide support for a variety of programs and organizations. In the last four years, GTRCF has granted 74 groups a total of $215,111.

Grantee examples include an Indigenous entrepreneurs bootcamp by 20Fathoms, the Autism Alliance of Michigan’s Upbound at Work employment program, tuition assistance for the Grand Traverse Dyslexia Association, a Water Protectors training camp for Title Track, general operating support for Northern Michigan Adaptive Sports, funding for Up North Pride’s Pride Week Celebration, and educational equity efforts at Mancelona schools by PoWeR! Book Bags. You can find the full list here: gtrcf.org/grants/diversity-equity-inclusion-grant-awards.html.

Mengebier points to a few of the projects he’s most proud to help support, like the Anishinaabe education offerings at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (pictured). He also highlights the World Learning Club at Leland Public Schools that helps “expose their students to other cultures around the world, including a monthly exchange program with students from Guatemala.”

“There’s another one that we funded in February called Remain in Touch,” Mengebier adds, referencing a Suttons Bay nonprofit. “This helps incarcerated parents and grandparents stay connected with their children through videos, through book exchanges, and other things.”

“We have a really broad view of what we mean by diversity, equity, inclusion,” says Alison Metiva, GTRCF’s chief operating officer who will take over as president and CEO in 2026. “I think it’s also really important for us to reflect that [these funds are] anchored in our vision, which is healthy, resilient, thriving communities for all. If we don’t center equity and inclusion efforts, then we’re never going to achieve our vision…”

Watching the Backslide

Marco Cabrera is a council member for Northern Michigan E3, a nonprofit whose mission is to “make the Northern Michigan region an area that celebrates and welcomes diversity and equality for all residents and visitors.”

Cabrera, who grew up “in northern Michigan as a Hispanic male” and has seen “all aspects of racism,” joined the NME3 council in January of 2025. He says the nonprofit is currently focused on reorganization to ensure NME3 can continue its mission in the long-term as well as on education efforts. He notes that the group is planning a Juneteenth (June 19) event alongside partners at the Dennos Museum and TC Roller Derby.

“We’re trying to work with people within the community to step up, maybe partner with us if they want to, but [also to] participate,” he says of the event. “Participation is the big thing we’re looking for, because that’s how we can start education, and that’s really where all the power comes from.”

For Cabrera, it’s disheartening to see how many people are turning away from DEI efforts the moment the going gets tough.

“It’s really the first time that so many of these people and businesses have skin in the game,” he says of those who had previously embraced DEI. “It’s hard because money is involved, but what a lot of people see is, for the first time, when there is a potential detriment to you [if you stick with DEI], you’re backing out. And that’s a real hard message to swallow.”

On the flipside, Cabrera points to a local school that is at risk of losing $75,000 in funding next year because they are continuing forward with their DEI programs. “It’s an incredible loss…but they are choosing that loss because that’s what’s right,” Cabrera says, adding that the school’s reasoning is that the program makes their students feel included and welcome.

“The depth at which I feel my heart filling for the few people that are willing to stand up despite the storm—there aren’t words to describe what that is like,” he adds.

For Cabrera, those moments of solidarity point to the Belonging letter of DEIB. “We know DEI, but I like adding the B on the end, because belonging is the next step.” He says that DEIB is often narrowed down to race for sound bites from its detractors, but that a true application and understanding of DEIB is so much broader.

“What I believe is that everybody is included. [DEIB] means everybody.”

Clarity for the Road Ahead

While Mengebier and Metiva remain proud of the work they are doing at GTRCF, they know DEI is under fire from the highest office in the land—and that those flames might reach northern Michigan.

“None of that really deters us from our focus on this, because we know it’s the right thing to do,” Mengebier says. “As far as our board goes, as far as our staff goes, as far as the organization’s focus on equity and inclusion, nothing’s really changed from our perspective.”

Despite the backlash from the White House, Mengebier feels the DEI Fund and Endowment have gotten broad support from the local community.

“I can count on one hand the number of times where people have expressed concerns about Community Foundation’s leadership on equity and inclusion work,” he says. “Far outweighing those handful of concerns have been many, many people recognizing the work that we’re doing and thanking us for being willing to be out there supporting these [communities].”

Cabrera applauds those willing to stay the course and stand alongside their friends and neighbors, whether they are BIPOC, LGBTQ+, a different religion, or any one of the many categories that DEI covers.

“I would really love for people to look forward to [pressures] that are upcoming, the choices they might have to make, and realize that now is an opportunity to choose,” he says. “And if we choose to stick together, we will be stronger in the long run. We will be stronger together.”

To learn more about the GTRCF’s DEI Fund, visit gtrcf.org/give/our-funds.html/349. To learn more about Northern Michigan E3, visit northernmichigane3.com.

The Bigger Picture

What’s happening with DEI outside northern Michigan? In January, President Trump set out to “terminate every diversity, equity, and inclusion program across the entire federal government” before putting pressure on non-governmental entities to do the same.

“I ended all of the lawless, so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion bullshit all across the entire federal government and the private sector,” Trump said at a rally in Warren, Michigan, that marked his 100th day back in office.

Indeed, many national companies—especially those with federal contracts on the line—were quick to drop or cut back their DEI efforts after Trump took office, including Google, Meta, Walmart, and Target. (Target, notably, has been boycotted by many shoppers for the move, and Target CEO Brian Cornell recently said that the boycotts “played a role” in Target’s dismal first quarter.) Other companies, like Apple, Costco, and Levi’s, have pushed back and affirmed their DEI commitments.

In the education sphere, the Department of Justice recently stated it will use the False Claims Act (a Civil War-era law aimed at people or companies who defraud governmental programs) to potentially “withdraw federal funding from colleges that promote diversity and inclusion policies,” according to CNN. Close to home, the University of Michigan announced the closure of their office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in March.

Even in the charitable sector, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports “Any of nearly 350 private and community foundations could be the subject of federal investigations of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs ordered by President Donald Trump.” That same publication notes that “For groups whose mission involves providing services to historically marginalized communities, Trump administration executive orders pose an existential threat.”