Indiana’s Black Legislative Caucus is launching an ambitious health-focused agenda in a legislative session fraught with political resistance. With a Republican-dominated Statehouse and governor dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, the caucus faces mounting obstacles as it works to address racial and economic inequities.
The caucus unveiled its 2025 agenda, “Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds,” hoping to combat the state’s soaring mortality rate, rising drug-related deaths, and the disproportionate mental health struggles afflicting Hoosiers. At the same time, IBLC members are fighting back against Gov. Mike Braun’s anti-DEI executive orders and legislation, which they say threaten progress for marginalized communities across Indiana.
“The stats speak for themselves,” said state Rep. Earl Harris Jr., president of the IBLC, as he unveiled the 2025 IBLC agenda.
“Indiana’s mortality rate is nearly 16% higher than the national average, compounded by an increase in drug-related deaths over the past four years. Adults and children alike in Indiana are more likely than average Americans to have heart disease, diabetes, and also struggle with obesity. The bottom line, Hoosiers should be better,” Harris said.
Harris added that it is imperative that the caucus works not only to enhance health outcomes for individuals struggling with mental health issues, but ensure their safety as they go through their day-to-day lives, interacting with the state’s institutions.
One key proposal, House Bill 1199, would require mental health professionals to accompany law enforcement officers responding to emergencies involving mental health or substance abuse crises.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, Black Americans living at or below the poverty level are twice as likely to report serious psychological stress compared to Black people with higher incomes, underscoring the need for intervention in communities like Gary, where 77% of the population is Black, and nearly 33% live at or below the poverty line.
“This is not just a policy issue — it’s a moral one. We cannot remain silent as our communities and businesses are pushed aside.”
state Rep. Robin Shackleford, D-Indianapolis.
In 2023, Gary used $1.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars to fund a mobile mental health initiative. Managed by Edgewater Health, the initiative is part of a larger crisis relief hub that oversees local responses to the 988 crisis hotline for Gary and Calumet Township.
Another priority is maternal health. Members of the caucus have submitted several bills related to maternal health, including Senate Bill 192, authored by state Sen. La Keisha Jackson, which calls for postpartum care for new mothers on Medicaid. According to the March of Dimes, 41% of all births in Indiana were by mothers on Medicaid.
In Lake County, a combination of socioeconomic and environmental factors contributes to it having the ninth-highest maternal mortality rate in the state, according to the Indiana Department of Health.
Playing defense
Beyond their own agenda for the year, members of the caucus have been thrust into the fire of attacks from the state legislature, where Republicans have sponsored legislation that would overhaul schools in Black districts, and from the governor’s mansion as well.
In a controversial move, Braun has issued an executive order to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across the state, sparking fierce opposition from the caucus.
Braun’s decisions are already having an impact on the ground. His budget plan cuts state funding to Martin University, Indiana’s only predominantly Black university, and the College Success Program, which supports minority, low-income and first-generation students. It also eliminates funding for the Indiana Native American Indian Affairs Commission.
While the caucus argues that this decision undermines progress toward racial and social equity, its ability to challenge the order is limited by the Democratic Party’s super-minority status in the state legislature.
Through Executive Order 25-14, Braun has prohibited the use of state funds, property or resources to support DEI and closed the Chief Equity, Inclusion and Opportunity office within the governor’s office.
Adding legislative weight to Braun’s executive orders, Republican state Sens. Tyler Johnson and Gary Byrne introduced Senate Bill 235, reinforcing Braun’s executive orders on DEI and allowing civil lawsuits against state educational institutions that fail to comply.
“Indiana is already falling short of its goal to foster diversity in our businesses, and now, with the introduction of Senate Bill 235, we are taking an even greater step backward,” said state Rep. Robin Shackleford, D-Indianapolis.
Shackleford said the bill allows universities to ignore diversity goals and eliminates the obligation to support supplier diversity, which she believes will harm minority-owned businesses.
“This is not just a policy issue — it’s a moral one. We cannot remain silent as our communities and businesses are pushed aside,” she said.
The policy actions from Indiana officials are in lockstep with those being taken at the federal level. Within hours of taking the oath of office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order reversing what he called the Biden administration’s forcing of “illegal and immoral discrimination programs.”
The Trump administration has framed DEI programming as unlawful, arguing that it violates civil rights laws. In the executive order, Trump stated:
“Roughly 60 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, critical and influential institutions of American society, including the Federal Government, major corporations, financial institutions, the medical industry, large commercial airlines, law enforcement agencies, and institutions of higher education have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) or “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) that can violate the civil-rights laws of this Nation.”
Trump rolled back a litany of discrimination related executive orders signed by previous presidents dating back as early as President Lyndon Johnson’s administration, signaling a hostile approach to minority protections.
As the IBLC works to advance its own agenda, it is also confronting legislation like House Bill 1136, which threatens to dissolve public school districts into charters in places like Gary where less than 50% of students living in the district attend the public schools there.
State Rep. Ragen Hatcher emphasized the importance of grassroots involvement, sharing plans to bus concerned Gary residents to Indianapolis to ensure their voices are heard.
State Sen. Andrea Hunley told Capital B Gary that she and fellow IBLC members have spoken with House Leader Todd Huston about their concerns regarding the bill, but also with leadership of their own party to strategize how to best stand up to it.
