FOIA Contact:

George Henderson
FOIA/PA Coordinator
Community Relations Service
600 E Street, NW, Suite 6000
Department of Justice
Washington, DC 20530-0001
(202) 305-2935
crs.foia@usdoj.gov

Conventional Reading Room:

Community Relations Service
600 E Street, NW, Suite 6000
Department of Justice
Washington, DC

Electronic Reading Room:

This includes frequently requested records, opinions, policy statements, and staff manuals/instructions to staff, created by the Office of Community Relations Service after November 1, 1996.

Component Description:

The Community Relations Service (CRS) provides community mediation and conciliation services to resolve disputes, disagreements, or difficulties relating to discriminatory practices based on race, color, or national origin. With the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (HCPA), CRS is authorized to work with communities to employ strategies to prevent and respond to alleged violent hate crimes committed on the basis of actual or perceived gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion or disability in addition to continuing to employ strategies to prevent and respond to community tension relating to alleged discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, or national origin. CRS may enter a community at the request of state or local officials, local citizens and organizations. In addition, CRS on its own motion may enter a community when it believes that peaceful relations among citizens are threatened.

DOJ Reference Guide:

This is a comprehensive guide to the FOIA that serves as a handbook for obtaining information from the Department

Special information required to make a FOIA request: None

Publicly available information for which a FOIA request is not required:

Annual reports; CRS Customer Service Plan; general publications on conflict resolution and related CRS work.

Publicly disseminated CRS publications can be found in these web pages under Publications and Useful Handbooks.

Major Information Systems:

Community Relations Service Information System