Notice2022-07260
Solicitation of Nominations for Membership on the Rural Community Economic Development (RCED) Subcommittee of the USDA Equity Commission
Primary source
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Published
April 8, 2022
Issuing agencies
Agriculture Department
Abstract
In accordance with Section 1006 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsack established an Equity Commission. The USDA Equity Commission will advise the Secretary of Agriculture by facilitating identification of critical USDA programs, policies, systems, structures, and practices that contribute to barriers to inclusion or access, systemic discrimination, or exacerbate or perpetuate racial, economic, health and social disparities. The USDA Equity Commission is governed under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, and by the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). A Rural Community Economic Development (RCED) Subcommittee is being formed and will be charged with providing recommendations on issues and concerns related to rural development, persistent poverty, and underserved communities.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 68 (Friday, April 8, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 68 (Friday, April 8, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20806-20808]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-07260]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Solicitation of Nominations for Membership on the Rural Community
Economic Development (RCED) Subcommittee of the USDA Equity Commission
AGENCY: United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
ACTION: Solicitation of nominations for membership on the RCED
Subcommittee of the USDA Equity Commission.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with Section 1006 of the American Rescue Plan
Act of 2021, USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsack established an Equity
Commission. The USDA Equity Commission will advise the Secretary of
Agriculture by facilitating identification of critical USDA programs,
policies, systems, structures, and practices that contribute to
barriers to inclusion or access, systemic discrimination, or exacerbate
or perpetuate racial, economic, health and social disparities. The USDA
Equity Commission is governed under the American Rescue Plan Act of
2021, and by the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act
(FACA). A Rural Community Economic Development (RCED) Subcommittee is
being formed and will be charged with providing recommendations on
issues and concerns related to rural development, persistent poverty,
and underserved communities.
DATES: We will consider applications that are received by May 6, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Please submit nominations to Cecilia Hernandez, Designated
Federal Officer (DFO), Office of the Deputy Secretary, Department of
Agriculture, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Room 6006-S, Washington, DC
20250; or send by email to: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#7c190d091508051f131111150f0f1513123c090f181d521b130a"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="99fce8ecf0ede0faf6f4f4f0eaeaf0f6f7d9eceafdf8b7fef6ef">[email protected]</span></a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Visit <a href="http://www.usda.gov/equity-commission">www.usda.gov/equity-commission</a>
or email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1f7a6e6a766b667c707272766c6c7670715f6a6c7b7e31787069"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="ee8b9f9b879a978d818383879d9d878180ae9b9d8a8fc0898198">[email protected]</span></a>, or Cecelia Hernandez, telephone:
202-913-5907.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
While USDA's expansive presence in rural communities is one of its
greatest strengths, it is increasingly clear that the decentralized,
local nature of information sharing and decision-
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making can be problematic, especially for underserved communities and
non-traditional customers. For example, local and regional food systems
is a complex industry with significant up-front costs including land,
seed, labor, fertilizer, and other inputs. In addition to assistance
accessing affordable capital, producers often need assistance with
business plan development, tax planning, expand market, or simply
navigating the complexity of the financial institutions from which they
are seeking to secure credit, be that USDA or elsewhere. These
challenges are compounded in rural communities of persistent poverty
where race and location combined have resulted in structural exclusion
from financial systems and other ladders of opportunity.
Underserved communities and populations are disproportionately
impacted by the effects of economic and environmental shocks. As the
world continues to experience the impacts of a pandemic and the
devastating impacts of climate change, including drought, flooding,
wildfire, and increased severity of storms, these communities are often
on the front lines. Historic inequities have often left such
communities and populations with low capacity to deal with these
challenges. In fact, two-thirds of over 3,000 counties in the United
States are rural and 310 of those rural communities have high and
persistent levels of poverty. Rural communities are generally closer to
land and water, making its residents, housing, businesses, and
infrastructure more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Of the
310, 86% or 267 counties are rural and concentrated in persistently
poor areas of the Delta Region, Appalachia, the Southern Border Region,
Puerto Rico and other insular areas, and on Native American lands. The
majority (60%) of people living in persistent poverty \1\ counties are
people of color. Since investments have historically lagged in these
areas, their already vulnerable position is made worse by the
inadequate and affordable access to reliable infrastructure, public
services, and community economic development opportunities.
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\1\ Persistent poverty counties are counties that have had
poverty rates of 20% or greater for at least 30 years. For more
information, visit: <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45100">https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45100</a>.
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The American Rescue Plan Act provides USDA a generational
opportunity to leverage the Equity Commission and empower rural
stakeholders to make recommendations to the Secretary in advancing
equity at USDA and its programs. Launched on February 28, 2022, to kick
off its Subcommittee for Agriculture, the Equity Commission in
collaboration with USDA determined a need for an additional
Subcommittee focused on RCED issues.
Scope and Purpose of the RCED Subcommittee
The RCED Subcommittee will be focused on providing recommendations
that would enable underserved communities to have equitable access to
USDA programs and increase their capacity to break the cycle of
persistent poverty. USDA programs may include those that support or
affect the following rural issues:
<bullet> Local and regional food
<bullet> Workforce development
<bullet> Small businesses
<bullet> Cooperative development
<bullet> Capacity building
<bullet> Community planning
<bullet> Technical assistance
<bullet> Data management
<bullet> Housing
<bullet> Community facilities
<bullet> Telecommunication and broadband
<bullet> Electric and clean energy
<bullet> Recreational economy
<bullet> Water, wastewater, and solid waste
<bullet> Lending and lender relationships
<bullet> Tribal
<bullet> Healthcare
USDA programs that support the topics above are administered by
Rural Development (Rural Business Service, Rural Housing Service, and
Rural Utilities Service) mission area and some programs within the
Natural Resource and Environment (U.S. Forest Service), Marketing and
Regulatory Programs (e.g., Agricultural Marketing Service) and Research
Education and Economics (e.g., National Institute of Food and
Agriculture and Extension) mission areas. Understanding barriers and
needed improvements in programs will assist USDA to provide economic
opportunities in places that need help the most and ensure that
investments equitably benefit underserved communities.
Membership
The RCED Subcommittee will be comprised of 15 members. Two members
of the USDA Equity Commission will serve in the RCED subcommittee.
Membership representation will come from the following:
<bullet> 4 representatives from community-based organizations;
<bullet> 2 representatives from lending institutions;
<bullet> 2 representatives from small business or cooperatives;
<bullet> 1 representative from a tribal entity;
<bullet> 1 university, community college, or trades personnel;
<bullet> 3 individuals selected at the discretion of the Secretary;
and,
<bullet> 2 members from the EC (as explained above).
Members must adhere to required background investigation, ethics,
and onboarding requirements prior to formal appointment. Although all
tasks are performed on a voluntary basis without compensation, USDA
will be reimbursed for travel expenses, including per diem instead of
subsistence, authorized by 5 U.S.C. 5703, in the same manner as a
person employed intermittently in the Government service.
Subcommittee membership expires along with the parent Equity
Commission on March 2024 unless extended.
Criteria for Selection
In order to better represent the targeted population, criteria
considered for membership on the RCED Subcommittee will include
combined experience and expertise in various topics under Scope and
Purpose. To achieve membership balance, USDA will consider diversity of
perspectives including but not limited to geographic representation as
well as deep life and professional experiences serving rural and
underserved communities across the country.
Applicants who previously submitted a complete application for the
Equity Commission or Agriculture Subcommittee, please do not submit
your applications again, USDA will consider and review your existing
application. No further action is required at this time.
Meetings
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The subcommittee will meet as deemed necessary by the USDA Equity
Commission co-chairs and may meet in person and/or by teleconference or
by computer-based conferencing. The subcommittee may invite technical
experts to present information for consideration. The subcommittee
meetings will not be announced in the Federal Register, only the public
meetings of the USDA Equity Commission overseeing and deliberating the
subcommittees' progress. All data and records available to the full
USDA Equity Commission are expected to be available to the public via
<a href="http://www.usda.gov/equity-commission">www.usda.gov/equity-commission</a> and the <a href="http://www.facadatabase.gov/FACA/apex/FACAPublicCommittee?id=a10t000000ErJLmAAN">www.facadatabase.gov/FACA/apex/FACAPublicCommittee?id=a10t000000ErJLmAAN</a> when the full Equity
Commission reviews and approves the work of the subcommittee.
The RCED subcommittee will report back to the parent committee--
USDA Equity Commission and will not provide advice or work products
directly to USDA or any of its agencies.
Ethics Requirements
To maintain the highest levels of honesty, integrity and ethical
conduct, no subcommittee member shall participate in any ``specific
party matters'' (i.e., matters are narrowly focused and typically
involve specific transactions between identified parties) such as a
lease, license, permit, contract, claim, grant, agreement, or related
litigation with the Department in which the member has a direct
financial interest. This includes the requirement for Subcommittee
members to immediately disclose to the DFO (for discussion with USDA's
Office of Ethics) any specific party matter in which the member's
immediate family, relatives, business partners or employer would be
directly seeking to financially benefit from the Committee's
recommendations.
All members will receive ethics training to identify and avoid any
actions that would cause the public to question the integrity of the
subcommittee's advice and recommendations. Members who are appointed as
``Representatives'' are not subject to Federal ethics laws because such
appointment allows them to represent the point(s) of view of a
particular group, business sector or segment of the public.
Members appointed as ``Special Government Employees'' (SGEs) are
considered intermittent Federal employees and are subject to Federal
ethics laws. SGE's are appointed due to their personal knowledge,
academic scholarship, background or expertise. No SGE may participate
in any activity in which the member has a prohibited financial
interest. Appointees who are SGEs are required to complete and submit a
Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE-450 form) via the
FDonline e-filing database system. Upon request USDA will assist SGEs
in preparing these financial reports. To ensure the highest level of
compliance with applicable ethical standards USDA will provide ethics
training to SGEs on an annual basis. The provisions of these paragraphs
are not meant to exhaustively cover all Federal ethics laws and do not
affect any other statutory or regulatory obligations to which advisory
committee members are subject.
Application Process
Individuals who wish to be considered for the RCED Subcommittee
must the following:
1. [Required] A resume or curriculum vitae (CV) providing the
nominee's background, experience, educational qualifications, and
nominees preferred role (not to exceed 15 pages).
2. [Required] A completed background disclosure form (Form AD-755)
signed by the nominee on page 2 following item 19: <a href="https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ad-755.pdf">https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ad-755.pdf</a>.
Application is open to the public, including minorities, LGBTQI+
individuals, women, and persons with disabilities in areas designated
within the United States, Caribbean Area (Puerto Rico and the U.S.
Virgin Islands), and the Pacific Basin Area (Guam, American Samoa, and
the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianna Islands).
All submissions must be typed and legible. Please send required
application documents by email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1b7e6a6e726f62787476767268687274755b6e687f7a357c746d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="dcb9ada9b5a8a5bfb3b1b1b5afafb5b3b29ca9afb8bdf2bbb3aa">[email protected]</span></a> or by mail
to Attn: Cecilia Hernandez, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Room 6006-S,
Washington, DC 20250; telephone: (202) 913-5907.
Equal Opportunity Statement
USDA prohibits discrimination in all of its programs and activities
based on race, sex, color, national origin, gender, religion, age,
sexual orientation, or disability. Additionally, discrimination based
on political beliefs and marital status, or family status is also
prohibited by statutes enforced by USDA (not all prohibited bases apply
to all programs). Persons with disabilities who require alternative
means for communication of program information (Braille, large print,
audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's Technology and Accessible
Resources Give Employment Today Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and
TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
Dated: April 1, 2022.
Cikena Reid,
Committee Management Officer, USDA.
[FR Doc. 2022-07260 Filed 4-7-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-18-P
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