OVERVIEW

The Iowa Civil Rights Commission (Commission) was created in 1965 by passage of the Iowa Civil Rights Act. The Commission's mandate is to eliminate discrimination in areas of employment, housing, public accommodation, and credit on the basis of race, sex, physical and mental disability, creed, color, religion, national origin, age (except in public accommodations and housing), and marital status (only in credit).

The Commission provides public service to thousands of Iowans each year. This report recounts Commission efforts in Fiscal Year (FY) 1980.

This report will explain the Commission's case processing system, staffing, organizational structure, and types and number of services rendered. In short, the reader is informed how an individual who alleges that he/she has been subject to discrimination files a complaint, what the Commission does with that complaint, and what relief a person can receive if the Commission finds discrimination.

Commission services are presented in the sequence that they are rendered to citizens, and the productivity and accomplishments of each division of the Commission will be listed along the way. Administrative and Advocacy Services are not initiated by a specific complaint, yet go far in assuring the Commission meets its mandate. The accomplishments of Commission advocacy and administrative services in FY 1980 are examined in this report.