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Four Facts about the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program 

1. You can submit an Application through January 13, 2024. By that date, applications must be postmarked, filed online, or turned into a local DFAP office.
2. The program staff can provide FREE help. To get help with your Application, please contact the Program Call Center by email at [email protected] or by phone at 1-800-721-0970. 
3. Filing an Application is free. There are no fees associated with the application process or this program in any form. 
4. No lawyer is required to apply. But if you feel the need for legal assistance, seek the assistance of a trusted, licensed attorney.

A frequently asked question posed to the DFAP team is, “What is discrimination, for the purposes of this program?”

Discrimination means treating some people differently from others, for illegitimate reasons. In this program, a claim of discrimination may be based on different treatment you experienced because of race, color, national origin or ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, age, marital status, or disability, or in reprisal/retaliation for prior civil rights activity. Covered discrimination could include, for example: failure to provide appropriate assistance; delay in processing a loan or loan servicing application; denial of a loan or loan servicing; prevention from applying for a loan or loan servicing; adverse loan terms; unduly onerous supervision of loan requirements—where these were due to the customer’s race, color, national origin or ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, age, marital status, or disability, or in reprisal/retaliation for prior civil rights activity. 

In the News

Clayton News Daily (Jonesboro, GA)



USDA financial program offers assistance to minority farmers who faced discrimination, ramping up outreach in southwest Georgia 

Erma Wilburn is founder and CEO of Feed My Sheep at Wilburn Farms. Feed My Sheep is a program that brings youths out of the Albany metro area to farms and shows them where their food comes from. Wilburn is also creating a co-op of black farmers to farm together to go after larger markets. The group wants to be self-sustaining and able to make enough money to build family lives back on the farm. It’s about reconnecting black people with the land and agriculture. At one point, family farms meant success, she said. 

Wilburn started the first Black Farmers Sustainability Conference in the region. The second conference was held the weekend of Oct. 21 and had representatives of the USDA Discrimination Financial Assistance Program in attendance. 

About 40 farmers attended the conference, and Wilburn said she knows of at least three who were able to begin the application process. 

Event

2023 IAC Annual Conference 

December 12, 2023 – December 14, 2023 

Join the Intertribal Agriculture Council (IAC), a Discrimination Financial Assistance Program Cooperator, as they celebrate a pivotal year full of growth and opportunity for Native producers and food systems in Indian Country. The IAC Annual Conference will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, December 12 – 14, 2023, at the beautiful Palms Casino Resort owned and operated by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. 

IAC's Annual Conference is for Tribal leaders, ranchers, farmers, producers, traditional food practitioners, youth and young professionals, and American Indian/Alaskan Native agribusiness owners and entrepreneurs seeking new markets or export expansion, plus USDA and other IAC partners. The three-day event offers solutions to collectively address historical and contemporary challenges in Indian agriculture to increase economic opportunities for Tribal communities nationwide. Representatives will be at the event who can speak to the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program and answer questions.

Palms Casino Resort 

4321 West Flamingo Road 

Las Vegas, NV 89103