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Civil Rights Offices and Partners

DOT Civil Rights Offices

DOT Civil Rights Partners

DOT Training Sites

Federal Civil Rights Agencies and Programs

Organizations & Associations

ADA National Network
The ADA National Network provides information, guidance and training on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), tailored to meet the needs of business, government and individuals at local, regional and national levels. The ADA National Network consists of ten Regional ADA National Network Centers located throughout the United States that provide local assistance to ensure that the ADA is implemented wherever possible.

Alliance for Justice (AFJ)
The Alliance for Justice (AFJ) is a politically active group that advocates for civil rights, consumer protection, and the environment. The AFJ’s Web site provides information on the organization’s activities and related Federal regulations and legislation. Visitors also can sign up to receive advocacy alerts via email and can access links and information compiled specifically for professional advocates and attorneys.

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is a civil rights organization committed to defending the rights of people of Arab descent and promoting their rich cultural heritage. ADC is the largest Arab American grassroots organization in the U.S. ADC supports the human and civil rights of all people and opposes racism and bigotry in any form. ADC welcomes the participation and support of people of all ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds.

American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)
With over 35 million members, the AARP is one of the largest nonprofit organizations in the country. Since 1958, it has lobbied for the rights of aging Americans--both those who are retired, and those who still serve in the workforce. Because the AARP's mission is not limited to retired persons, the AARP no longer bills itself as the American Association for Retired Persons, using the acronym AARP instead.

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Founded in 1920 to respond to repressive government measures taken in the wake of World War I, the ACLU has been the leading civil liberties organization for more than 80 years.

American Civil Rights Institute
Based in Sacramento, California, the American Civil Rights Institute is a nationally recognized civil rights organization created to educate the public about racial and gender preferences.

American Council on the Blind
The American Council of the Blind strives to increase the independence, security, equality of opportunity, and quality of life, for all blind and visually-impaired people.

Amnesty International Online
Amnesty International is an advocacy and watch group that seeks to ensure that human rights in every country meet the standards set in international treaties and by international law. The group’s Web site provides news on violations of human rights around the world and information on how to contribute to the protection of human rights.

Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry in the U.S. and abroad through information, education, legislation, and advocacy. ADL serves as a resource for government, media, law enforcement, educators and the public.

Blacks in Government
Blacks In Government (BIG) was organized in 1975 and incorporated as a non-profit organization under the District of Columbia jurisdiction in 1976. BIG has been a national response to the need for African Americans in public service to organize around issues of mutual concern and use their collective strength to confront workplace and community issues. BIG's goals are to promote EQUITY in all aspects of American life, EXCELLENCE in public service, and OPPORTUNITY for all Americans.

The Center for Accessible Technology
CforAT supports use of technology to promote independent living for people with disabilities, providing information via an online resource, and engaging in advocacy work to support policies that expand access to technology for people with disabilities, including the many people with disabilities who are low-income.

Center for Constitutional Rights
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.

CivilRights.org
For over a half century, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) has led the fight for equal opportunity and social justice. Their visionary leadership was grounded in their commitment to social justice and the firm conviction that the struggle for civil rights would be won, not by one group alone, but through coalition.

Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO)
COMTO ensures a level playing field and maximum participation in the transportation industry for minority individuals, businesses and communities of color through advocacy, information sharing, training, education and professional development. 

Disability Rights Advocates
DRA is a non-profit legal center dedicated to securing the civil rights of people with disabilities. DRA advocates for disability rights through high-impact litigation, as well as research and education.

Disabled American Veterans
The DAV was founded in 1920 by disabled veterans returning from World War I to represent their unique interests. In 1932, the DAV was congressionally chartered as the official voice of the nation’s wartime disabled veterans dedicated to building better lives for America’s disabled veterans and their families.

Easter Seals Project Action
Our mission is to promote universal access to transportation for people with disabilities under federal law and beyond by partnering with transportation providers, the disability community and others through the provision of training, technical assistance, applied research, outreach and communication. The primary values of our work are partnership, coalition building, coordination, inclusion, independence and the importance of access to transportation choices for people with disabilities.

Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
Founded in 1990, the EFF works specifically to ensure that civil liberties continue to be protected in the digital age. The EFF is particularly concerned with First Amendment free speech issues, and is best known for organizing the "blue ribbon campaign" in response to the Communications Decency Act of 1995 (which was later declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court).

Federal Asian Pacific American Council
The Federal Asian Pacific American Council (FAPAC) was founded in 1985. It is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization representing the civilian and military Asian Pacific American (APA) employees in the Federal and District of Columbia governments.

Federally Employed Women
Federally Employed Women (FEW) is a private membership organization working as an advocacy group to improve the status of women employed by the federal government and by the District of Columbia government.

Healthy Workplace Bill - Workplace Bullying
The Healthy Workplace Campaign is the official home of the national grassroots legislative movement to enact the anti-bullying Healthy Workplace Bill. The HWB is the boldest proposed change to U.S. employment law in 40 years. The campaign is a volunteer network of citizen activists working since 2002 to pass the bill into state and federal law.

Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is one of the world’s leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. For more than 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.

Job Accommodation Network
The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) is the leading source of free, expert, and confidential guidance on workplace accommodations and disability employment issues. Working toward practical solutions that benefit both employer and employee, JAN helps people with disabilities enhance their employability, and shows employers how to capitalize on the value and talent that people with disabilities add to the workplace.

League of Women Voters
The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.

Mid-Atlantic ADA Center
The Mid-Atlantic ADA Center is one of ten regional centers established to provide training, information, and technical assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to businesses, consumers, schools, and state and local governments.

Ms. Foundation For Women
At the Ms. Foundation, we work to bring attention to the real challenges facing women, especially women of color and low-income women, living in poverty, working paycheck to paycheck or both. We tirelessly advocate for national and statewide policy change that will address these challenges, and we support more than 100 organizations throughout the country that are working for change on a grassroots level.

Native American Rights Fund
Founded in 1970, the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) is the oldest and largest nonprofit law firm dedicated to asserting and defending the rights of Indian tribes, organizations and individuals nationwide.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
The NAACP, founded in 1909, advocates for the rights of African Americans and other racial minority groups. It was the NAACP that brought Brown v. Board of Education, the case that ended state-mandated public school segregation in the United States, to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) is the country’s first and foremost civil and human rights law firm.  Founded in 1940 under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall, who subsequently became the first African-American U.S. Supreme Court Justice, LDF was launched at a time when the nation’s aspirations for equality and due process of law were stifled by widespread state-sponsored racial inequality.  From that era to the present, LDF’s mission has always been transformative: to achieve racial justice, equality, and an inclusive society. 

National Council of La Raze (NCLR)
Founded in 1968, the NCLR defends Hispanic Americans against discrimination, supports anti-poverty initiatives, and works for humane immigration reform. Although the phrase "La Raza" (or "the race") is often used specifically to refer to those of Mexican ancestry, the NCLR is an advocacy group for all Americans of Latina/o ancestry.

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Founded in 1973, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is the nation's oldest support and advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans. In addition to supporting legislation granting equal protection to same-sex couples, the Task Force has recently begun a Transgender Civil Rights Project aimed at ending discrimination on the basis of gender identity.

National Organization for Women (NOW)
With over 500,000 members, the NOW is generally regarded as the political voice of the women's liberation movement. Founded in 1966, it works to end discrimination based on gender, protect a woman's right to choose to have an abortion, and promote the overall status of women in the United States.

National Urban League
The National Urban League is a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment in order to elevate the standard of living in historically underserved urban communities.

National Women’s Law Center
Since 1972, the Center has expanded the possibilities for women and girls in this country. The Center’s primary purpose is to advance the issues that cut to the core of women's lives in education, employment, family and economic security, and health and reproductive rights—with special attention given to the needs of low-income women and their families.

Society of American Indian Government Employees
Formed in 2002, SAIGE is the first national non-profit organization representing American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) Federal, Tribal, State, and local government employees. SAIGE provides a forum on the issues, challenges, and opportunities of AI/ANs in the government workforce (including Tribal governments) and works to foster a professional network among AI/AN government employees.

United Nations Human Rights
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) represents the world's commitment to universal ideals of human dignity. We have a unique mandate from the international community to promote and protect all human rights.

Disclaimer:  The links listed are provided as resources of information. Views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Last updated: Thursday, September 19, 2019