Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (OASCR)

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (OASCR) facilitates the fair and equitable treatment of USDA customers and employees, while ensuring the delivery and enforcement of civil rights programs and activities. OASCR ensures compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies for USDA customers and employees regardless of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and expression), religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, marital or familial status, political beliefs, parental status, protected genetic information, or because all or part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program. The USDA has realigned some of its FOIA functions by creating a stand-alone office titled “Office of Information Affairs” (OIA) under the Office of the General Counsel (OGC).  As part of the realignment, the OGC-OIA has assumed the FOIA functions for all USDA staff offices and certain mission areas.  FOIA requests submitted to OASCR will be processed by the OGC-OIA. FOIA Reference Guide FOIA Regulations