Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Q&A with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack

When Tom Vilsack became head of the Agriculture Department last year, he faced a backlog of 11,000 civil rights complaints and several unresolved class-action lawsuits from minority farmers and ranchers.
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The USDA is also being sued by Hispanic farmers and female farmers who allege discriminatory practices. What are the biggest challenges facing the USDA in terms of resolving civil rights cases and enforcing civil rights laws?

There are three different areas of concerns. One area is the pending lawsuits against the department from farmers and ranchers who feel that they have been mistreated by the department.

full article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/15/AR2010021503001.html

[posted by Ana Perales]

SIX MONTHS FROM CENSUS, NATIONAL COALITION OUTLINES

(posted by Jesus Galindo)
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Groves joined prominent Latino groups, labor and faith leaders and leading national Spanish-language media partners today to outline a historic campaign to ensure a full and accurate 2010 Census count of the estimated 50 million Latinos living in the United States. Members of the coalition – called the ya es hora !HAGASE CONTAR! (It’s Time, Make Yourself Count!) campaign – previewed a public service announcement that will begin airing today on major Spanish language media.

“Ensuring our nation’s second largest population group is fully counted is critical to recognizing our nation’s diversity and to building future political strength,” said Arturo Vargas, Executive Director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund (NALEO). “The Census is the single most powerful indicator of who we are as a nation. It not only dictates the story we tell about our demographic makeup, but it also determines the allocation of federal funds and the seats of political power.”
For Immediate Release
October 1, 2009
for the rest of the article follow link
http://www.naleo.org/pr/pr10-01-09YEH.html