The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has voluntarily suspended a grant program that was based on race after the U.S. Department of Justice initiated a review for compliance with the Civil Rights Act.
The Capacity Strengthening Initiative was a grant program that "limited eligible grantees to organizations that worked with 'people of color,' provided 'strategic consideration' and 'gave priority' to proposals from organizations 'led by populations of color,'" according to the review.
The program also prioritized allocating a higher proportion of grants to "Black or African American" and "nonwhite Latino(a)" communities, and a 2023 summary of the Capacity Strengthening Grant described it as being designed "To support and strengthen the capacity of metro and rural community-based organizations and faith-based organizations serving people of color, American Indians, LGBTQIA+, and people living with disabilities."
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division stated that the strict race-based language was a violation of the Civil Rights Act, and that "Recipients of federal dollars cannot decide who benefits from those funds on the basis of race, color, or national origin."
The MDH withdrew the grant program after the DOJ initiated a review based on Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits any recipient of Federal financial assistance from discriminating on the basis of race, color, or national origin.
