Over the past eight years, USDA has taken big, bold steps to forge a new era for civil rights and ensure all Americans who come to USDA for help are treated fairly, with dignity and respect. We worked to bring to light the most challenging aspects of the Department’s past and used the lessons we learned to chart a stronger, more inclusive path both for our employees and the communities we serve. And while we still have much to accomplish, we’ve made significant progress. When we arrived in January 2009, there were 14,000 administrative civil rights cases pending at USDA and no formal processes established to provide pathways to justice for USDA customers. In addition, thousands more claims of discrimination from Native American, African-American, Hispanic and women farmers and ranchers languished unresolved in the federal district courts as part of lawsuits. We didn’t waste a moment, acting swiftly and aggressively to uproot inequality and correct past mistakes.

We settled large-scale class-action lawsuits in the federal district courts with Native American and African-American farmers and ranchers and established a unified claims process for women and Hispanic farmers and ranchers, providing more than $2.5 billion in combined payments to claimants, more than $118 million in debt relief and millions of additional dollars to nonprofit and educational institutions. We reduced the inventory of pending civil rights complaints to its lowest level in five years and, during that time, we recorded the fewest customer complaints on record at the Farm Service Agency.

Internally, we made significant changes to enhance representation among decision-makers across the Department, making sure our customers are represented and voices from all of America’s communities are heard. USDA partnered with the Office of Personnel Management to develop a model intern-to-career program and host hiring events with an emphasis on serving historically underserved communities. These approaches have demonstrated a 140 percent increase in the number of minority students hired in just over 5 years. Today, nonwhite employees also account for 27 percent of our workforce, an increase that has helped to make the USDA more representative of the people we serve.

Join us throughout the month of August as we tell the important story of eight years of progress toward a more equal and inclusive USDA. Follow along on usda.gov, on the USDA blog and by using #USDAResults, or catch up on Chapter VIII on our Medium site.

Left to right, Geneva Wright, Alaska, Kashawn Burke, Georgia, Gabrielle Parker, Maryland Kimberly Lopez, Idaho, Jacob Jensen, Utah, Andres Parra, Arizona, Spencer Orr, Utah and Lorena Rivera, Idaho pose for a photograph in front of the White House after meeting with President Barack Obama in the Oval office to discuss community service and teen leadership efforts addressing rural poverty at the White House in Washington, D. C.