1997 Annual Report/Setting a Sweeping Civil Rights Agenda

1997 Annual Report of the Secretary of Agriculture
A Change for the Better

8. Setting a Sweeping Civil Rights Agenda

Secretary Glickman has made civil rights his top priority at USDA. The Secretary established a Civil Rights Action Team (CRAT) to change the culture and reform the Department’s civil rights practices. This team audited hundreds of reports that spanned three decades, and it sponsored 12 listening sessions across the country to hear from customers and employees. Those at the listening sessions heard especially from socially disadvantaged and minority farmers--and from USDA employees themselves. The CRAT subsequently issued a report entitled Civil Rights at the United States Department of Agriculture: A Report of the Civil Rights Action Team. On February 28, 1997, Secretary Glickman accepted the CRAT Report and made a commitment to take action on all 92 recommendations in it.

CRAT reforms will benefit both customers and employees through reduced conflict, better morale and working relationships, more effective programs, better management, better service to customers and employees, increased productivity, and more efficient operations throughout USDA.

Year at a Glance

As indicators of Secretary Glickman’s commitment to eradicating the vestiges of discrimination at USDA and ensuring equal opportunity for all, USDA achieved the following civil rights accomplishments in 1997:

Restaffed the civil rights enforcement unit and began work on the backlog of discrimination complaints--resolving 187 program discrimination complaints, including 11 major settlements.
Initiated new foreclosure and lending policies at USDA to help assure that no one will lose his or her farm because of discrimination.
Provided direct operating loans totaling $65 million to 1,927 socially disadvantaged farmers and direct farm ownership loans totaling $15.5 million to 184 socially disadvantaged farmers, exceeding by 176 percent the targeted allocation that Congress had set.
Increased minority representation on Farm Service Agency (FSA) State committees by 10 percent over the past year--46 percent of the 222 FSA State committee members are now women and minorities.
Established an Office of Outreach to reach customers that USDA has not traditionally served.
Provided $4.5 million from the Fund for Rural America for outreach to socially disadvantaged farmers.
Created the Small Farms Commission to address the critical needs of small and socially disadvantaged farmers.
Increased direct farm ownership and farm operating loans made to minority and women farmers from $46.5 million to $81 million (a 74-percent increase), between FY 1993 and FY 1997.
Established the new division of civil rights in the Office of the General Counsel. This office is charged with providing legal counsel and guidance to the Department on civil rights issues.
Hosted two procurement conferences targeting American Indian and Alaska Native Corporations, resulting in an increase in contract awards to American Indian firms.


Accomplishment Highlights

“Civil rights at USDA has always been a high priority for me. My goal is that every customer and employee be treated fairly and with dignity and respect.”
--Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman

Highlights of Civil Rights Progress in 1997
In March, the Secretary directed a Civil Rights Implementation Team (CRIT) to begin work on implementing the CRAT reforms. The CRIT eventually divided the work among 33 innovative teams composed of more than 300 USDA employees. Some reforms could be implemented quickly; others will require more time.

Registry of Minority Lands
USDA is establishing a voluntary registry of minority lands. This registry will establish a baseline of minority farmland ownership which can be monitored over time.

By the end of 1997, 85 of the 92 recommendations had been implemented. The CRAT Report and the work by CRIT have been responsible for the following historic civil rights reforms:

A new Civil Rights Policy requires that all employees treat coworkers and customers fairly and equitably, with dignity and respect.
For the first time, Agency Heads will be rated on their civil rights accomplishments by the Assistant Secretary for Administration. All managers and employees will be held accountable for civil rights. A new Compliance and Accountability Division will track progress, and the Assistant Secretary for Administration will hold mission areas and Agency Heads accountable for civil rights.
USDA has reorganized and strengthened the Office of Civil Rights by hiring 14 permanent and 13 temporary investigators to replace the investigative unit that was dismantled in 1983. In all, the office has hired an additional 34 staff members, including economists, statisticians, computer specialists, and support staff.
USDA has instituted new Human Resources Management hiring, retention, promotion, and training policies for employees to help prevent workplace conflicts, disputes, and problems. A new Conflict Management Unit and policy are being designed to address conflict early and proactively. Managers will be held accountable for managing workplace conflict. The goal is to address workplace disputes before they become disciplinary actions, grievances, or EEO complaints.
USDA has a new position in the Office of the General Counsel--the Associate General Counsel for Civil Rights--to assist with discrimination complaints.
From January 1 through December 31, 1997, USDA settled or closed 187 of the program discrimination complaints in the backlog, including some cases that dated back to the mid-1980's. This includes 11 major settlements that total more than $3.5 million and successful remediation of 4 individual complaints that total $1.2 million which were part of a proposed class action suit.
Of the approximately 1,500 employee complaints filed before April 1997, 786--or more than half--have been resolved.
In April 1997, USDA halted all pending farm loan foreclosures until a review of each case could be made to determine if any inconsistencies, including limited rights violations, existed. An independent review team in Washington, DC, received and reviewed 3,148 of the 4,500 pending foreclosures. Actions were halted on 116 cases, pending investigation of possible civil rights violations. The review of pending foreclosures continues. USDA has now directed each State to appoint a diverse Civil Rights Independent Review group, representative of the State’s population, to review each case and future cases to determine if discrimination or inequitable treatment contributed to the failure of each farming operation.
On August 22, 1997, the National Office of Outreach was established to lead and coordinate Department-wide outreach responsibilities and strategies.

Several legislative proposals were introduced by Congress during 1997 that address some of the CRAT Report recommendations. Secretary Glickman is working on a legislative proposal for civil rights initiatives that would modernize the Farm Service Agency’s State and county committee system, improve access to credit, reconstitute the lease back/buy back programs, and help ensure equity in funding for minority-serving educational institutions.

Counting American Indian Farms
To ensure that the Census of Agriculture accurately counts minority farms, USDA has designed a procedure to estimate the number of Native American farm operators on every reservation instead of counting a reservation as one farm--as was the case in the past.

USDA Forms National Office of Outreach
A newly formed National Office of Outreach coordinates delivery of programs and services to customers that USDA has not traditionally served.

Through leadership and partnership with USDA agencies, this office will ensure the provision of information, technical assistance, and training to all USDA customers, with emphasis on underserved populations, to assure that potential customers have full access to all of USDA’s programs and services.

The Department is improving its outreach to small, minority, and women-owned businesses through an Information Technology Initiative utilizing the Internet to link to national organizations representing numerous small business groups. This effort broadens the dissemination of USDA programs and contracting opportunities to a greater number of small businesses more quickly and efficiently.

National Commission on Small Farms
In July 1997, Secretary Glickman appointed a 30-member National Commission on Small Farms to address the critical needs of small and socially disadvantaged farmers. On January 22, 1998, the National Commission on Small Farms presented the Secretary with A Time to Act, a 120-page report which examines a wide range of programs and issues, including credit, risk management, education, and outreach, and which recommends improvements to better serve small and beginning farmers. Such a strategy will help ensure economic viability and address the rapid decline in the numbers of minority farmers and ranchers.

In December 1997, Secretary Glickman joined President Clinton in a meeting with 22 farmers to discuss issues affecting small family farmers, including credit, market access and concentration, tobacco, dairy, civil rights, outreach, and discrimination complaints. The Secretary announced additional efforts to improve USDA’s civil rights program and to increase assistance for small and socially disadvantaged farmers.

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