October 8, 2025
The FAA froze the funds after Atlanta leadership refused to dial back on its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Just one week after Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens passed up millions of dollars in federal airport funding instead of dumping the city’s DEI programs, the city’s business owners are applauding in support, BET reports.
President of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Katie Kirkpatrick, said it’s the sole duty of the city to protect initiatives that secured opportunities at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport for minority-owned businesses with federal funding on the line or not.
“It’s the DNA of who we are. It doesn’t change based on the policies or the perspectives at the federal level,” Kirkpatrick said. “Changing that, I think, would be inauthentic for our city.”
In late September, Dickens made headlines after he refused to rescind the city’s DEI programs in order to receive $57 million in funding from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for renovations at one of the busiest airports in the world.
Dickens said Atlanta has a reputation for nurturing Black entrepreneurship, which isn’t worth turning its back on.
“No city has done more to nurture Black entrepreneurship,” he said. “We are confident that the airport will be able to pursue alternative funding to advance these projects without impacting customers or airport service providers.”
Finding confidence that the airport, which is owned by the city, will find other avenues of funding, Kirkpatrick highlighted how this isn’t the first time Atlanta has battled adversity, and it won’t be the last.
She believes Dickens made the right choice.
“I think if he had [accepted the federal funds], it would have been inauthentic to who we are as a community. People come and go in politics; what doesn’t change is who we are as a community,” Kirkpatrick said, according to WSB Radio. “Because we are the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement, our DNA is steeped in having a diverse workforce, a diverse community, and the mayor does not shy away from that.”
Since 2023, after the Supreme Court’s devastating overturn of affirmative action, DEI initiatives have been attacked, creating scrutiny and confusion for business owners of all revenue standings and federal agencies.
One of those businesses on the front line of the fight was the Fearless Fund, the venture capital firm, headquartered in Atlanta, which was told its popular grant for Black-women business owners was discriminatory for business owners of other races.
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