Introduction
The Discrimination Financial Assistance Program (DFAP) was established by Section 22007 of the Inflation Reduction Act. Through the Act, Congress allocated $2.2 billion for the program and directed USDA to provide financial assistance to farmers, ranchers and forest landowners who experienced discrimination in USDA farm lending programs prior to January 2021. Upon signing of the law by President Biden, USDA worked immediately and diligently to design the program in accordance with the statute, sought significant stakeholder input, and opened the application process in July 2023. On July 31, 2024, USDA announced it had issued awards to eligible applicants.
The program statute required DFAP to be administered through qualified nongovernmental entities subject to standards set and enforced by USDA. USDA contracted with three entities to serve as National Administrator and Regional Hubs, to conduct outreach, assist with the financial assistance application process, operate regionally based offices, manage program call centers, and process applications. The National Administrator oversaw the program, including reviewing individual applications, making determinations of eligibility and evaluating the application against USDA-approved standards, using corroborating data from the USDA where available. The USDA-approved standards are included in the Validation Guide which can be found below.
More information about the program is available at 22007apply.gov
Discrimination Financial Assistance Program Validation Review Guide (PDF, 4.7 MB)
Note: 508 remediation is underway.