July 13, 2025
The program helped many minority women entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground.
As Tennessee makes official cuts to its DEI programming and funding, one program that broke gender gaps in Memphis will shut down.
As of this month, the Minority Women Enterprise program in Memphis has stopped operations. The program was a exponential success during its tenure, making Memphis the only city in the nation where women business owners outnumbered their male counterparts.
According to WMC Memphis, the closure is a result of a new state law that eliminated all DEI initiatives and departments. The Dismantling DEI Departments Act went into effect July 1, ending the program that promoted government spending toward these minority women-owned businesses.
Before its shut down, the enterprise program offered support and resources for this growing sector of entrepreneurs. It allowed these women to gain success and sustainability within Memphis. Now, the next group of women with business ambitions may find it harder to get their ideas off the ground.
One local official thinks that the stripping of the enterprise program will lead to more negatives, especially given Memphis diverse population. The city remains predominately Black, accounting for over 62% of its residents, as confirmed by Census data. The city is also comprised of a majority of women, making up over 52% of its population.
“Now that we are enforcing something that is going to take away so much of the progress we had been making,” explained Shelby County Commissioner Britney Thornton. “That’s the part that concerns me. We had the program. We were starting to train individuals on how to get county contracts and how to get city contracts, where the resources were, and now, we are being told by legal we can’t even talk about it.”
Thornton also mentioned how the city has an underspend that went toward supporting these businesses. However, with the loss of that funding, some Black businesses are now at risk.
“What we have seen on the county side is that we have a significant underspend somewhere between 0% and 8%, we were spending with minority businesses,” she said. “We know that Black businesses are within that figure.”
The state law follows a national sentiment against DEI endeavors, primarily sparked by the Trump administration. This anti-DEI legislation extends to grade schools, higher education, and federal agencies throughout the United States.
While the business owners once under this program stated their ongoing commitment to supporting one another, the loss of this invaluable resource remains felt across the city.
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