Firms face financial woes, conduct layoffs due to litigation targeting DEI-based grants: Report

A venture firm boss on Thursday described having to scale back her company's operations and grant programs after being pummeled by lawsuits from conservative groups.

Atlanta-based Fearless Fund CEO Arian Simone told Inc. in an interview that conservatives’ efforts to debilitate grant programs geared toward women of color are making inroads, causing her organization to fall apart.

Since the inception of the Fearless Strivers Grant Contest, Simone, with the aid of partner corporations, has been able to fund business owners $3.7 million in grants.

Simone told Inc. that ever since litigation against the Strivers grant program, several corporations have backed out with only two partners staying.

"I didn't plan for this," Simone said.

"I'm definitely equipped for it, but I didn't prepare for the mental and emotional toll this has taken on me and my team."

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Edward Blum, the conservative strategist behind the American Alliance for Equal Rights [AAFER] hit Simone's Fearless Fund Management, LLC with a lawsuit in August 2023. The lawsuit claimed that the firm’s Fearless Strivers Grant Contest was "racially discriminatory" and violated the Civil Rights Act of 1866 for making criteria solely for Black female entrepreneurs.

According to Inc., the firm started with a team of 19 when it launched in 2019. However, litigation caused it to scale down to six.

Simone told Inc. "It all fell apart due to litigation."

"You're talking millions of dollars we've lost, and it's truly impacting our operations," Simone said.

In June 2023, Fearless Fund touted a multi-million dollar investment into their grant program from major corporations like Bank of