Suppliers, partners rethink relationship with Target after diversity pullback

Target gave local filmmaker Leonard Searcy a $35,000 grant in October.

Searcy was set to meet with the Minneapolis-based retail giant again Thursday to talk about another grant. The company postponed the meeting indefinitely, he said.

On Friday, Target announced a retreat from its diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, goals, including programs to fund entrepreneurs of color and specifically increase diversity among suppliers.

Searcy, CEO of the film company WestBone Productions in Brooklyn Park, said the decision was “a real shot in the gut.”

Social media since has exploded with people commenting about Target’s decision on DEI. Some support it. But most have said it is a step backward, was demoralizing to staff and suppliers, and that it shows corporations are more interested in making sure they are in the good graces of President Donald Trump’s administration than standing up for what’s right.

Some called for boycotts. Twin Cities Pride severed its ties with Target as a sponsor.

For its part, Target says it’s still committed to diversity and selling products from suppliers owned by people of color. It just will not be measuring diversity in the same ways.

If Target had given Searcy a new grant, the money was to finance a film shoot in Duluth with Academy Award-winning producer Brenda Gilbert that would have used a local workforce and created scores of jobs.

Searcy said he’s confused by Target’s sudden reversal and isn’t sure where the relationship will go from here.

Target’s original $35,000 grant was intended to support WestBone’s MegaMixer training and networking events and to help Target find and hire production talent for its own operations, Searcy said.

“We hope that we’re able to continue [with Target],” Searcy said. His bigger fear is that other companies might follow Target’s lead. He’s got a big meeting with another corporation this week.

“You know, the thing about Target is that they’re a very influential company,” Searcy said. “A lot of other organizations will follow what they do. So it is kind of unnerving.”

The changes present a real dilemma for suppliers and others who have depended on Target and other companies making similar decisions.

Target’s announcement made Sheletta Brundidge, a local podcaster and media producer, rethink her business ties. She recently decided not to take $10,000 from Amazon because it, too, has pulled back on DEI efforts.

The money would have helped fund Brundidge’s Black Entrepreneurs Day in February at the State Capitol.

“I’m sure I’m not the only Black business owner making tough choices today,” said Brundidge, who is a regular opinion contributor to the Minnesota Star Tribune. She is encouraging people to skip retailers that have pulled back on DEI measures and shop at Costco, which reaffirmed its diversity commitment.

Reactions on social media Friday were at first muted as people sought clarity on the implications of Target’s decision. Among the early voices was Melissa Butler, CEO and founder of the Lip Bar, whose products are sold at Target.

Butler wrote on Instagram: “We appreciate your support wherever you choose to give it. thelipbar.com is always open. @target we’re eager to learn more about what this means.”

Courtney Adeleye, CEO of Watch & Sea Beauty, whose skincare products will be available at Target starting Feb. 2, said on Instagram she got the news at the same time as everyone else.

“But that doesn’t mean we can’t strategize. Strategy takes time.”

Adeleye has announced a “Success Accelerated” program in response. Those who buy her products at Target will be able to participate in a mentorship weekend with Adeleye, she said.

A Target spokesman said all supplier contracts will be honored.

Sharon Smith-Akinsanya, CEO of Race Mackenzie Group and founder of the People of Color Career Fair, sees Target’s decision as part of a larger trend among corporations recalibrating their messaging and strategies around DEI.

“For corporations, this is about reshaping how they talk about the work they’ve always done,” she said.

For companies like Target, the stakes are high: balancing a shifting political climate while avoiding alienating a diverse and loyal customer base. In other words, company workforces and suppliers need to be diverse because their customers are diverse.

“We have changing demographics. One in 10 Minnesotans is a person of color,” Smith-Akinsanya said. “We’ll be a majority-minority nation by 2045.”

The rollbacks by Target and other companies come amid heightened political tensions around DEI initiatives. Trump last week canceled all federal DEI programs.

Warren McLean, CEO of the Northside Economic Development Network (NEON), said Target has been a great supporter of the program. Its decision to pull back on certain programs was a surprise to him.

“I don’t think it’s in name only. But I do think that the people in positions [of power] recognize that they can’t suddenly abandon everything they’ve done and will do,” he said. “I just think they may have a way of reframing, a way of looking at things maybe more broadly.”

Target has coached several of NEON’s small-business clients, contributed a “significant amount of money” toward the construction of NEON’s new food incubator building on West Broadway and pledged to support it in the future, McLean said.

Support from here on will probably be couched in ways that emphasize the business basis for doing so, he said.

McLean worries about the future impact on people vying to become suppliers. For example, some were able to get placement even though their products had a slightly higher price.

“In the future, that probably won’t happen,” he said.

Target specifically said Friday it would stop participating in any outside surveys regarding DEI and shift its “supplier diversity” programs to “supplier engagement.”

The company also said it would conclude its three-year DEI goals and its Racial Equity Action and Change (REACH) goals initiatives in 2025.

The REACH community goals made after the 2020 murder of George Floyd were to give $100 million to Black-led organizations and to spend $2 billion with Black-owned businesses, whether through marketing or the supply chain.

Angel Uddin, senior director of equity, diversity and inclusion for the University of Minnesota’s Office of Human Resources, said people need to be careful not to overreact to Target’s announcement. Boycotts are too extreme a reaction and could have unintended consequences for workers and suppliers, Uddin said.

But she understands people’s frustration, especially with the way Target communicated the rollback. Instead of framing the changes as an evolution to “DEI 2.0,” the announcement came across as abandoning DEI altogether, with unclear initiatives to replace it.

Uddin said people need to adapt strategies in this changing corporate and political climate.

“We can’t use old tactics on a new playbook,” she said.