PHILADELPHIA – For four decades, Philadelphia has set specific goals for awarding a portion of its hundreds of millions of dollars in yearly government contracts to businesses that are owned by women and people of color.
But as of this fall, that practice is no more, a major shift in the city’s diversity initiatives that comes as affirmative action-style programs have faced a national political and legal backlash.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration is no longer pursuing a goal of fulfilling 35% of all contracts through what are known as “minority, women, or disabled-owned enterprises,” a benchmark that has been in place in City Hall since 2016. Prior to that, the goal was 25%, set in the early 1980s…