Black Woman Says Her Construction Company Neglected as She Works to Help Ukraine

She believes she’s being overlooked because she’s a woman and she’s Black.

The CEO of the District of Columbia-based CDAG International, Carolyn Davis, is encountering heaps of discrimination as she works to help Ukraine after it faced massive destruction caused by the Russian invasion.

According to Amsterdam News, The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), U.S. politicians, government organizations, and others have neglected Davis, who has taken her construction company around the country to assist civilians and military personnel, installing containers and facilities to improve living conditions.

“We installed electrical systems and other mandatory features,” Davis said.

“They do not recognize me. I’m just some Black woman who wants to lend a hand. And that’s exactly what they perceive. I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t want to support a Black-owned business, but they clearly don’t,” she added.

Davis said she has been ignored multiple times by the American envoy to Ukraine and the USAID in her requests for a meeting to compete for contracts.

In a letter addressed December 30, 2022 to Nathaniel Adler, the principal director of the U.S. Office of the Under Secretary for Policy at the Department of Defense, The Defense Ministry said even with all of the help thus far, Ukraine still needed supplies, equipment, and logistical support.

“CDAG International has worked with our military and has proven that they can assist the Ukrainian government to acquire critical services and facilitate many of our requirements. CDAG has proven beneficial to our troops and had contributed to saving lives,” the letter stated praising CDAG as one of the few companies capable of accomplishing the needed tasks.

Dwight Brown, senior managing partner for CDAG and a retired U.S. Army Sgt. Major, said CDAG has created housing to accommodate 3,000 within eight months.