Note: This site is for reviewing legacy plan of work data from 2007-2011. If you are looking for the current plan of work interface, visit pow.nmsu.edu.

Civil Rights (De Baca County)

Plan Goal

Civil Rights compliance by New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service is mandated by federal laws and is directly tied to Extension's receipt of federal funding.

Situation Statement

DeBaca County Extension Service, 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. Title VII 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 selection, trainings, advancement, and other benefits of employment. New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service has the responsibility to provide programming to all residents of New Mexico. DeBaca County Extension programs must be handled in a manner that treats every customer and employee with fairness, equality, and respect. This applies to all aspects of Extension programs including identifying needs, setting priorities, allocating resources, selecting and assigning staff, conducting programs, and receiving feedback.

Target Audience and Actions

What will Happen: Civil rights compliance work is ongoing. Compliance includes plans of work and program participation data that continues throughout the year to ensure nondiscrimination in program delivery, conducting educational programs for faculty and staff on civil rights topics, the delivery of innovative programs and the corrective action taken when discrimination occurs or noncompliance is documented. The county staff will use 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.
Who will be Reached: For the civil rights specialist, the target audiences are the faculty and staff in county and tribal Extension offices. For county agents, depending on whether they supervise staff, target audiences will include staff they supervise and all residents of their geographic area with specific attention paid to under-served and under-represented audiences.

Short-Term Objectives

*Within the first six months on the job, new agents and/or staff will be able to explain to another person the importance of Extension Service civil rights compliance and will be able to place compliance records in appropriate files;
*County Extension Agent civil rights plan will include written plans for agent and staff members’ periodic participation in equal opportunity/diversity training. Agents will be able to report the significance of training in their annual performance evaluation document;
*County Directors will hold quarterly staff meeting discussions regarding civil rights compliance and civil rights planning. Staff meeting minutes will reflect those discussion topics;
*All reasonable efforts are carried out to ensure equal access and integration of clubs;
*Within the first six months of employment all CES employees will be able to define "all reasonable efforts" and cite examples;
*County CES Staff will discuss civil rights efforts during staff meetings, develop a civil rights POW for their program and adhere to all civil rights laws in reguards to programming and employment.

Medium-Term Objectives

*Internal and external advisory boards and committees will be diverse with respect to gender, ethnicity, and community representation and will be representative of the population in the geographic areas being serve;
*County Extension Agents and staff will know where to locate procedures for handling program and employment complaints from clientele and office personnel will understand the complaint process and those issues of compliance and noncompliance;
*The USDA “…And Justice for All” poster showing the nondiscrimination policy statement and how to file a civil rights complaint will be prominently displayed in office areas visited by the public and office entrances, routing of clients will be such that discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability does not occur;
*All reasonable efforts will be carried out to ensure equal access and integration of clubs and all extension programming;
*A nondiscrimination statement will be used on Extension printed publications, including bulletins, leaflets, circulars, fact sheets, program announcements, and miscellaneous publications;
along with a public notification policy informing the public of the availability of reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities will be established;
*The various mailing lists will be representative of the diversity of the population in the geographic areas being served;
*Extension programs, methods, content, and places of services are implemented in a manner that ensures nondiscrimination on the basis of sex for all participants in compliance with Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Long-Term Objectives

*The DeBaca county civil rights plan (as directed by NMSU CES) identifies the frequency of conducting internal civil rights reviews with all program units, including plans for taking appropriate corrective measures, and Extension’s recognition of staff members’ successes for addressing equal opportunity issues;
*The DeBaca County Director will receive administrative support and direction from NMSU/CES Civil Rights Specialist sufficient enough to maintain a high level of visibility for compliance with civil rights laws, rules, and regulations;
*Established procedures are in place to guide staff in ensuring that education assistance is not provided to any organization or group that excludes individuals because of their race, ethnicity or gender;
*There is equality, fairness, and respect in the use of Extension work facilities, including support for educators, paraprofessionals, secretarial and support staff;
*Office quarters and related facilities, supplies, educational materials, electronic technology (computers, telephone, etc.) are assigned and available to all staff on a nondiscriminatory basis;
*Procedures are in place to mainstream participants into other Extension programs to ensure total inclusion;
*Internal civil rights review plans are in place for assuring program compliance by Extension staff members, on an equal opportunity basis;
*All DeBaca County CES employees will understand the NMSU CES file guide system.

Evaluation Plan

Every five years DeBacaCounty is required to conduct a civil rights review. Civil rights program efforts will be reviewed by a team of trained reviewers representing different program areas and areas of expertise. The evaluation will consist of an examination of the completeness of office civil rights compliance files, discussions on successes and problems in carrying out civil rights compliance and reviewing the importance of the task. Counties, as a team, will establish five-year goals for outreach to underserved audiences within their communities. If compliance is not complete, recommendations will be made that will outline corrective actions needed. A timeline for completion of those corrective actions will be established and a follow-up examination of those corrective steps will take place with the civil rights specialist.