Civil Rights

2010-2011 Dona Ana County Civil Rights Report
ICAN/KIDS CAN Program Unit
Submitted by Gayla Weaver
ICAN Home Economist

ICAN/KIDS CAN CIVIL RIGHTS REPORT

SITUATION STATEMENT:

Dona Ana County within New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service (CES), as the state's 1862 land-grant university, recognizes the importance of diversity and inclusion in the development and implementation of Extension programs. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 states that no person on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex or national origin will be excluded from participation in or benefits of any program receiving federal funding. The Dona Ana County ICAN program monies are received from two USDA federal grants. They are the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) grant and the Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program (SNAP) grant funds.

TARGET AUDIENCE AND ACTIONS:
Civil rights compliance work is ongoing. The ICAN home economist uses civil rights artifacts collected, such as county demographic data, the public notification steps of programs, and data of who attends the programming, to determine gaps in outreach efforts and potential needs of underserved audiences.

Since Dona Ana County has a large number of Spanish speaking residents, all ICAN classes are presented and advertised in both Spanish and English. Almost all of our participant handouts are in Spanish as well as English. Affirmative action and ADA statements are used on all fliers, program announcements and advertisements for the Dona Ana County ICAN program. The USDA "...And Justice for ALL" poster showing the nondiscrimination policy statement and how to file a civil rights complaint is prominently displayed in the office area visited by the public and this poster is displayed at each ICAN adult and youth class. The ICAN representatives for the advisory board are representative of the gender and ethnic profile of Dona Ana County. The state civil rights review was held on March 23rd, 2011, in the Dona Ana County Extension office. The ICAN files were found to be up to date and in order.

The ICAN Home Economist is aware of and contributes regularly to the Civil Rights file which is located in the central office area.

Gayla Weaver
Dona Ana County

The Agent continues to oversee all civil rights efforts in programming efforts, ensuring that all of the programming was implemented with equal opportunity, diversity in audience and integration. Record of these efforts are kept in the form of program sign in sheets, mailing lists and enrollment record in the appropriate civil rights file at the local County Extension Office. Affirmative action statement and ADA statements have been included in flyers and mailed correspondence developed by the County Extension staff announcing upcoming programs and newsletters. The San Miguel County faculty and staff will continued to maintain the civil rights files on a regular basis as programming occurs.

In order to ensure compliance with the Civil Rights policy the 4-H Agent maintains civil rights files and post a non-discrimination statement on all educational publications, news releases, monthly newsletters, and announcements. The 4-H Agent work closely with office staff to ensure that efforts are being made to meet civil rights requirements. The 4-H Agent has searched for more opportunities to involve more non-traditional youth in programs.

2010-2011

The Rio Arriba County Program unit continues to do an in office Civil Rights review in the month of January. This year it was much easier since a system of consistency is in place. All the staff now has a better understanding of the importance of complying with Civil Rights.

OUR OBJECTIVE SHORT AND LONG IS TO KEEP THE FILES UP TO DATE WEEK BY WEEK AND TAKE OUT WORK THAT HAS PAST THE THREE YEAR TIME PERIOD.