Spring 2012 - Minority Landowner

The Training Division was established as part of the Office
of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (OASCR)
in October 2009. It is charged with implementing new
training strategies and collaborating and coordinating with all
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) organizations to deliver
a streamlined, cohesive and substantive civil rights training
program.
In order to fulfill its mission to serve the Nation’s people,
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack has stated that if USDA is to move
beyond its conflict-ridden civil rights history, it will require a
transformation from a culture of inequity and discrimination
to an organization of inclusion and high performance. An important
dimension of this approach involves strengthening and
improving civil rights training throughout the Department. Effective
civil rights training,
among other things, is critical
to decreasing the number
of employment and program
complaints, improving program
delivery and workforce
diversity, and creating a community
of cooperation, collaboration,
and excellence.
Civil rights training supports
the Department’s goal
of becoming an inclusive and
high-performing organization
in the eyes of our constituents and employees. The Department
seeks to create a greater sense of teamwork by promoting the
view that learning together leads to growing together. Consequently,
the Department aims to build an atmosphere of equity
and sensitivity, while providing service to employees and constituents
in a manner that is respectful and beneficial. And in so
doing, USDA helps strengthen the Nation’s efforts to become a
more inclusive society.
8 www.minoritylandowner.com Spring 2012
ADVERTORIAL
New Priorities,
New Opportunities:
Civil Rights Training at USDA
"Civil rights training supports the
Department's goal of becoming
an inclusive and high performing
organization"
OASCR’s Training Division pursues effective ways to partner
with other USDA civil rights staffs to leverage the Department’s
resources, assisting with and augment training as needed. This
partnership and collaboration will evolve over time; however,
during the transformation, constituents can expect an increased
awareness and environment of employee commitment to customer
service and personal responsibility and accountability.
Employees in the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) were
the first to benefit from civil rights training led by the Training
Division. The training topics, determined in concert with the
Agency’s senior management to address specific agency needs,
focused on equal employment opportunity in the workplace,
disabilities, harassment, retaliation, reasonable accommodation,
and customer service. The training was mandatory for approximately
180 FSA executives,
managers, and supervisors,
and the intended results fo-
cused on fair, equitable, and
transparent delivery of programs
and services.
Plans are underway to
conduct training for USDA’s
National Institute of Food
and Agriculture, National
Agricultural Statistics Service,
National Finance Center, and
Grain Inspection, Packers
and Stockers Administration. Employees from headquarters and
the field, including union members, will be trained.
Other notable activities include ensuring that all USDA staff
and contractors complete the federally mandated Notification
and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act
(No FEAR Act) training. The No FEAR Act training is vitally
important because it is intended to reduce the number of employment
complaints, and the training makes Federal agencies