Facing lawsuit by white company owner, Cook County retools grant system for minorities, girls

A lawsuit by a white North Side businessman has forced Cook County officials to revamp a system that would have paid out $ten,000 grants to minority- and girls-owned organizations hurt by the COVID 19 pandemic.

Announced in 2022, the Supply Develop Grant System was to spend out some $71 million in federal COVID relief funds as grants to “historically excluded organizations — such as these owned by entrepreneurs of colour, girls, veterans, LGBQT+ and persons with a disability — to close racial wealth and chance gaps.”

3 months immediately after the system was launched, Edison Park chiropractor Domenic Cusano filed a lawsuit backed by the California-primarily based Pacific Legal Foundation, in search of an injunction to bar the system from releasing any grants due to the fact the system would “disadvantage his application in comparison to similarly situated applicants who recognize as nonwhite or Hispanic.”

The county received 22,000 applications from company owners, but no funds had been awarded and county officials this week announced they would redesign the system and ask applicants to resubmit.

Court records indicate Cusano’s request for an injunction was dismissed earlier this month by the judge due to the fact the county had announced the system was “rescinded” on Feb. 27.

It was not clear from the lawsuit no matter whether Cusano, who stated he identifies as “white and Caucasian,” applied for a Develop Grant, which would have necessary him to list his race on the application type and certify that the company was at least 51% owned by a minority, lady, individual with a disability or veteran. Cusano did not return a telephone contact Friday from the Chicago Sun-Occasions.

“While a motion to dismiss the suit has been filed, a determination by Cook County was produced to rescind and restructure the grant,” Preckwinkle spokesman Nick Mathiowdis stated in a statement. “To that finish, and in an work to help little organizations as swiftly as feasible, we have selected to restructure the grant system rather than litigate the matter in court.”

The system would have allotted grants to two,250 applicants. Mathiowdis stated the pool of funding would be enhanced in the restructured system, and will target organizations that had been “disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and historically disinvested communities.”

Corporations would have to resubmit applications for the grants, Mathiowdis stated.