U.S. Department
of Justice
CRS Presents its FY 2020 Annual Report
The Department of Justice Community Relations Service (CRS) is pleased to share its Fiscal Year 2020 Annual Report. The report highlights the agency’s work across the country and U.S. territories to resolve community conflicts and prevent and respond to alleged hate crimes arising from differences of race, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, or disability.
Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 was a historic year, and CRS rose to the challenge, seamlessly pivoting to support communities across the country and territories by providing in-person and virtual services to reduce community conflict and tension. This report highlights CRS’s work amid nationwide civil unrest and a global pandemic that led to concerns about disparate access to health services and an increase of hate crimes against Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) individuals.
“Throughout the year, CRS stepped up to the plate with resilience, passion, a spirit of innovativeness, and fierce dedication to accomplishing our mission, no matter the obstacles,” said CRS Deputy Director, Gerri Ratliff.
In FY 2020, CRS worked with government and law enforcement agencies, civil rights organizations, faith-based institutions, schools, tribes, and community stakeholder groups to help communities resolve their conflicts peacefully. With a staff of 16 conciliation specialists and four regional directors, CRS provided services to communities in 42 states and territories in FY 2020, including:
- 145 dialogues, including 8 Bias Incidents and Hate Crimes forums, 10 Protecting Places of Worship forums
- 11 training sessions (e.g., Engaging and Building Partnerships with Muslim Americans, Engaging and Building Partnerships with Sikh Americans, Engaging and Building Relationships with Transgender Communities)
- 4 mediation sessions
CRS provided 424 consultation sessions—135 more than the previous year—with community groups, local law enforcement, and local officials to share best practices and technical assistance to support their work to reduce tensions and prevent or respond to hate crimes.
CRS was established by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to provide assistance to communities to resolve "disputes, disagreements, or difficulties relating to discriminatory practices" perceived to be committed on the basis of race, color, or national origin. The agency’s mandate was expanded by the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, which mandates that CRS prevent and respond to community conflicts arising from actual or perceived “hate crime acts,” including those committed on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, or national origin.
The full text of the FY 2020 Annual Report is available here.