Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination by public and private recipients of federal funds on the basis of race, color, and national origin. The law states: “No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” (42 U.S.C. § 2000d)
Each agency of the federal government is charged with enforcing the law, but some agencies are more effective and transparent than others. This repository is intended to supplement information about civil rights enforcement on federal agency websites, such as those of the Department of Justice and EPA. The repository was developed by the Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC) and the Environmental Justice Clinic at Vermont Law School to provide information about civil rights enforcement under Title VI. The repository includes public information received as a result of quarterly Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed with EPA to obtain documents related to EPA’s complaint process, as well as agency policies and reports. The documents have been filed and organized according to date, subject matter, and geography.
The goal of the repository is to provide information to the public – and, particularly, environmentally overburdened communities of color and low-income communities – in support of their efforts to achieve environmental justice.