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Information showcasing how Trump’s DEI order can effect federal contracts for Black businesses
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Key Takeaways

A new special edition of The Blackout Report is sounding the alarm over what comes next for Black-owned businesses seeking federal work. Released Thursday (April 23) by Onyx Impact alongside the Global Black Economic Forum (GBEF), American Pride Rises (APR), and The Araminta Project, the report argues that President Donald Trump’s March 26 executive order targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts among federal contractors could further shut Black businesses out of one of the country’s biggest wealth-building lanes.

According to the document, Black-owned entities currently receive just 1.2% of federal contract dollars despite federal contracting making up a $774 billion market. The analysis says $9.3 billion in annual Black wealth creation is now at risk if access narrows even more. Onyx Impact Founder and CEO Esosa Osa said the numbers make the administration’s latest move hard to ignore.

“Federal contracting is one of the clearest pathways to wealth generation in this country, and Black-owned businesses receive only 1.2% of the payments,” Osa said. “When you target a group already confined to 1.2%, you are actively enforcing a broken system.”

Image
Image Credit
Onyx Impact
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Information showcasing how Trump’s DEI order can effect federal contracts for Black businesses
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landscape-xlarge
Image Position
center

The report points to several early warning signs already taking shape across the contracting space, including Black-owned businesses being dropped from supply chains, heavier compliance burdens for smaller firms, slower outreach and supplier development efforts, and reduced access to repeat contract opportunities that often help businesses grow over time. Alphonso David, president and CEO of the GBEF, said the administration’s approach amounts to “a step backward for both civil rights and economic growth.” Stacey Abrams, founder of American Pride Rises Network, added that the recent executive order and broader attacks on DEI “hurt America’s economy, intentionally harm our families, and cruelly concentrate more power in the hands of the have-already.”

Black women-owned businesses are already seeing losses

The report also puts a spotlight on Black women-owned businesses, which it says are feeling the impact in especially sharp ways. It highlights findings tied to The BOW Collective, a network of high-achieving Black women CEOs whose businesses collectively generated $1.7 billion in revenue before 2025. The new report says a majority of those founders reported revenue declines tied to lost contracts or clients.

“The ripple effects were real — millions of dollars in terminated contracts, businesses forced to change their names overnight,” said Nic Cober Johnson, founder of The Araminta Project. “But that is not our only story. We evolved. And we built stronger companies because of it.”

The full report is now available to the public.