shirley sherrod

Antes de juramentar como Secretario de Agricultura, tuve la oportunidad de reunirme con algunos individuos que sirvieron en la posición en el pasado.  A estos les pedí consejo y dos de los más recientes Secretarios mencionaron que era importante que me enfocara en los derechos civiles.  Aprendí rapidamente por mi cuenta que el USDA tiene un historial de derechos civiles desafortunado y de altibajos, un historial de discriminación contra clientes y empleados que se extiende por varias decadas.

Before I was sworn in as Secretary of Agriculture, I took time to meet with a handful individuals who held the job before I did.  I asked them for advice, and two recent Secretaries mentioned that it was important that I focus on civil rights.  As I soon learned for myself, USDA has an unfortunate and checkered history with regards to civil rights, with a multi-decade history of discrimination against our customers and our employees.

So since becoming Secretary in January 2009, I have made civil rights a priority at USDA, working to turn the page on the Department’s tragic civil rights record.  I pledged that we would correct past errors, learn from mistakes, and take definitive action to ensure that there is no disparity in program benefits based on race, color, sex, age, sexual orientation or disability.

Three patient simulation dummies - an adult, a child, and an infant – are now available for students to practice on at Heart of Georgia Technical College in Dublin, thanks to USDA funding provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Written by E.J. Stapler, Rural Development Public Information Coordinator, Georgia

Judith Canales, Administrator of USDA Rural Development Business Programs, Curt Wiley, Chief of Staff, and Pandor Hadjy, Deputy Administrator, visited Atlanta recently to meet with State Directors, Business Program Directors, and Business loan specialists from 15 states and two territories in an effort to identify ways to streamline business and industry loan processing. This was one of four regional meetings around the nation.