Social Justice Activism

use its technical and financial assistance programs to improve the quality of life in all
communities. In 2011, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack emphasized the USDA's
focus on EJ in rural communities around the United States. USDA funds or implements
many creative programs with social and environmental equity goals, however it has no
staff dedicated solely to EJ, and faces the challenges of limited budgets and
coordinating the efforts of a highly diverse agency.
Background
The USDA is the executive agency responsible for federal policy on food, agriculture,
natural resources, and quality of life in rural America. The USDA has more than 100,000
employees and delivers over $96.5 billion in public services to programs worldwide. To
fulfill its general mandate, USDA's departments are organized into seven mission
areas:1) Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services; 2) Food, Nutrition and Consumer
Services; 3) Food Safety; 4) Marketing and Regulatory Programs; 5) Natural Resources
and Environment; 6) Research, Education and Economics and; 7) Rural Development.
In 1994, President Clinton issued Executive Order 12898, "Federal Actions to Address
Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations."•
Executive Order 12898 requires that achieving EJ must be part of each federal agency's
mission. Agency programs, policies and activities can lead to health and environmental
effects that disproportionately impact minority and low-income populations. Under
Executive Order 12898 agencies must develop strategies that identify and address
these effects by:
1. promoting enforcement of all health and environmental statutes in areas with
minority and low-income populations;
2. ensuring greater public participation;
3. improving research and data collection relating to the health and environment of
minority and low-income populations; and
4. identifying differential patterns of consumption of natural resources among
minority and low-income populations.
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires that federal funds be used in a fair and
equitable manner. Under Title VI any federal agency that receives federal funding
cannot discriminate. Title VI also forbids federal agencies from providing grants or
funding opportunities to programs that discriminate. An agency that violates Title VI can
lose its federal funding.
Following E.O. 12898 and USDA's initial EJ strategic plan, USDA issued its internal
Environmental Justice Department Regulation (DR 5600-002) in 1997. Although the
definition of EJ was undergoing updates in 2012, DR 5600-002 defines environmental
justice as "to the greatest extent practicable and permitted by law, all populations are
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