"Head Start early childhood programs are fighting back against the Trump administration in a lawsuit after being told words like “Black,” “disability,” “female,” “minority,” “trauma,” “tribal,” and “women" must be removed from funding applications — or be denied, NPR reports. The list, submitted Dec. 5, includes 200 words, including “accessible" and "belong" in a lawsuit from programs in states including Pennsylvania, Washington, Wisconsin, and Illinois, all against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The group argues that the Trump administration’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) ban in federal programs conflicts with Head Start’s statutory mandate, which includes providing “linguistically and culturally appropriate” services, in addition to early intervention services for disabled children. The list revelation came after the executive director of a Wisconsin-based Head Start program submitted a Sept. 30, 2025, application for funding and was rejected after 50 years. Two months later, the director, Mary Roe, said she received two emails from HHS instructing her to “please remove the following words from your application" — a total of 19 words, including "racism,” “race,” and “racial” were listed. Her application was returned, but shortly after, Roe received another email from her appointed HHS program specialist saying, “I wanted to follow up with you concerning your application." "I sent it back asking for the removal of particular words, and I wanted to provide you with the complete list of words to make sure they are not in your applications," the specialist explained."