Message from the Director

Welcome to the Office of Civil Rights' web site.  We hope that you will find the information on our web site of value and benefit.

The Mission of the Office of Civil Rights is to provide leadership for comprehensive protection against discrimination in employment practices and delivery of programs to the public.  Our civil rights offices, located throughout the country, are staffed with individuals committed to fairness and equity in employment and the delivery of Agency programs.  Our goal is to ensure that applicants, and individuals who are eligible to participate in our programs are treated fairly and equitably, with dignity and respect.  

Civil rights is about human rights and human relations.  The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted to provide for the protection of these constitutionally guaranteed rights, in public facilities and education.  The Civil Rights Act also prohibits discrimination in federally assisted programs administered at the State and local levels, and in the Federal workplace.  Fairness and equity in the workplace and in the communities in which we live is a noble and necessary pursuit, drawn from the very fabric and essence of what our country is built upon.  Each of us bears responsibility to do all that we can to support fairness and equity in the workplace, in the programs that we deliver, and in the communities in which we live.  

Attention to civil rights and human relations at work and in our communities is vital to our existence.  Our commitment to fairness and equity needs to constantly be renewed.  So, I implore each of us to renew our commitment to civil rights and human relations, making the Food and Nutrition Service a better place to work and our communities a better place to live.

An Agency that paves the way for civil rights and human relations will not only be a better place to work, it will be a better working place.

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