Progressive insurance, famed for its quirky commercials starring fictional saleswoman Flo, is being sued for “patently unlawful” racism for awarding exclusively black-owned businesses $25,000 — while allegedly banning white, Asian, Hispanic and owners of other backgrounds from applying.
The lawsuit — filed on behalf of Freedom Truck Dispatch owner Nathan Roberts in Ohio federal court on Wednesday — claims that Progressive racially discriminated against non-black small-business owners like Roberts for offering a five-figure award to 10 “black-owned small businesses to use toward the purchase of a commercial vehicle.”
The class-action suit, which was filed by anti-radical left group American First Legal, claimed that on May 24, Roberts, a Progressive customer, received an email “about a grant opportunity for their [Progressive’s] commercial-trucking small-business owners.”
However, “Progressive decided that only black-owned businesses would be eligible for these grants” because, according to the insurance company, “studies have shown how inequities have it harder for black entrepreneurs to access capital.”
Progressive partnered with grant administration company Hello Alice for the financial award.
The winners for the 2023 grant were announced in a press release on Tuesday, which said “Progressive is stepping in to provide funding to Black entrepreneurs to help navigate their small business journey.”
Applications for the grant have since closed, according to Hello Alice’s website, and it’s unclear if there will be another round of winners in 2024.
The Post has sought comment from Progressive and AFL.
When The Post sought to find more information on the grant on Progressive’s site, it appears that the landing page was taken down.
Roberts’ complaint called the entire scheme “racially discriminatory grantmaking,” with the “racially discriminatory requirement” to be black in order to apply.
AFL lawyer Gene Hamilton told the Daily Mail that Roberts’ case was part of a broader assault against big corporations that inject “racial considerations into every aspect of their business operations, employment practices and so much more.”
Roberts is a hard-working “small business owner fighting to create a better life for himself and his family,” Hamilton added, noting that he was denied the opportunity to receive $25,000 “solely because of the amount of pigment in his skin.”
In the 50-page lawsuit, Roberts says he wants the court to declare Progressive’s grants illegal and award him “nominal” compensation and pay his legal fees.
It’s unclear what the total sum would likely be.
Aside from being black, entrepreneurs had to have 10 or fewer employees and a turnaround below $5 million in order to apply to the grant program, which is dubbed “Driving Small Business Forward.”
Roberts did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Progressive originally launched this program in 2022. The first iteration only allowed Hispanic business owners to apply to win a $25,000 grant.
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