United States Department of Agriculture

Food and Nutrition Service

Southeast Region

 

Policy Memorandum 250.21-01:  State Agency (SA) Responsibilities Regarding Civil Rights Complaints

 

This memorandum is a restatement of policy previously issued as Food Distribution Policy Memorandum 93-2 on June 9, 1993.  Any changes made to the original text are in bold.

 

The purpose of this memorandum is to clarify information regarding the reporting responsibilities of SAs regarding civil rights complaints for FNS food assistance programs.

 

There have been a number of incidences where this office has been informed by SAs of civil rights complaints well after the complaint was brought to the attention of the local authority or the SA.  In some instances, local program officials who reported the incident to local or State civil rights entities mistakenly believed that the necessary program requirements had been met.

 

Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Instruction 113-3, Revision 2, Civil Rights Compliance and Enforcement in the Food Distribution Program, requires that SAs and recipient agencies accept all complaints, written or verbal, and forward such complaints to the Regional Office, which will, in turn, provide the information to the National Office for review.  In an effort to provide consistent reporting timeframes, it has been established that all civil rights complaints must be reported to this office within three working days of the reported complaint. While State or local level civil rights complaint activity may take place concurrently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture must be notified of all civil rights complaints promptly.

 

SAs should provide this information to all recipient agencies as soon as possible.  If additional information is needed, please refer to FNS Instruction 113-3, Revision 2.