FIRED: The DOGE Layoffs Hit Black Woman Hard. A Year Later, Many Are Still Reeling
FIRED: The DOGE Layoffs Hit Black Woman Hard. A Year Later, Many Are Still Reeling
A collaboration between MindSite News, Capital B, The 19th and The Nation. Edited by MindSite News.
Written by Lottie Joiner.
This series reveals how the mass federal layoffs not only shattered livelihoods and upended families, but also devastated the Black women who have often been the backbone of their families and communities. FIRED traces the intimate emotional and structural toll of the mass firings and explores a central question: What happens to an entire community when the women holding it together are pushed to the breaking point?
This series is a collaboration between MindSite News, Capital B, The 19th and The Nation and was edited by MindSite News.
The Unseen Toll: Depression, Anxiety Plague Black Women a Year After Being Fired by DOGE
When Trump eliminated diversity programs and empowered Elon Musk and DOGE to gut the federal workforce, thousands of Black women lost their jobs. The cuts dismantled a job pipeline for Washington DC’s Black community and gutted the well-being of the women who hold up that community. Read the story.
Recovering From a ‘Gut Punch’: Black Women Fired by Trump and Musk Work to Overcome Shame and Self-Blame
Black women working for the federal government did what they were supposed to do. They got their degrees. They excelled at their jobs. They received awards for excellent performance. Yet their achievements could not protect them from the political winds. Coming Thursday, Oct. 8.
‘I Had to Get My Mind Right’: The Challenges to Loving Relationships After Being Laid Off by DOGE
After the federal firings, Black women felt betrayed and disillusioned. One longtime federal worker learned from experience the importance of community — that people who have experienced collective trauma need collective resilience. Coming Friday Oct. 9.
The name “MindSite News” is used with the express permission of Mindsight Institute, an educational organization offering online learning and in-person workshops in the field of mental health and wellbeing. MindSite News and Mindsight Institute are separate, unaffiliated entities that are aligned in making science accessible and promoting mental health globally.
