C4C

The Coalition For

Change, Inc. (C4C)
P.O. Box 142
Washington DC 20044

Tanya Ward Jordan

L.O.R., B, A., M.S.
Founder

Philip Taylor
B.A., M.P.A.
Acting President

Willie Berry, B.S.

Treasurer
Michael Castelle, Sr.
Diversity Chair

Milton Hill
B.S., M.A., M.P.A.
Outreach Chair

Arthuretta Holmes-Martin
B.S., M.S.
Mental and Spiritual
Well-Being Chair

Cecil Paris
PMP, B.S.
Management and
Organization Chair

Anthony Perry
Communications Chair
CIO Cert. B.A., B.B.A, M.S.

Paulette Taylor
A.A., B.A.
Civil Rights Chair

Diane Williams
B.A., M.S., J.D.
Legislative Research Chair

www.coailtion4change.org
C4C@coalition4change.org
1-866-737-9783

An Open Letter to Representative Donna Edwards

Of Marylands 4th Congressional District
July 23, 2011
Representative Donna Edwards
5001 Silver Hill Road
Suite 106
Suitland, Maryland 20746
Subject: Assistance In Obtaining Termination Data by Race From the Office of
Personnel Management
Dear Congressman Edwards:
This is to inform you that members of The Coalition For Change, Inc. (C4C), a
majority of whom are your constituents, are appalled by the lack of response the C4C is
receiving from your office. For the last fifteen (15) months, the C4C has sought your offices
assistance in obtaining termination data by race from the Office of Personnel Management
(OPM).
Over a year ago (May 22, 2010) several C4C members met with you in your
Suitland, Maryland office to introduce you to our new organization and some of its leaders. As
we informed you during our introductory meeting, we are a support advocacy group for
African-American federal employees. Our mission is to expose and eradicate racism in the
Federal Government that not only injures the affected party, but also hampers the
governments ability to promote efficiency, effectiveness and transparency in Federal
programs and operations.
During our meeting, C4C members courageously shared with you the chronic work
force culture of bias and reprisal taking place within the Federal Government, our nations
largest employer. We plainly stated our belief -- that managers acting on retaliatory motives
were frequently engineering the removal of African-Americans who filed discrimination
complaints using the pretext of poor performance. We stated that supervisors were targeting
black employees for removal more often than non-minority employees. Aside from providing
you with examples of overt discrimination, we shared examples of how African-Americans
had become collateral damage amidst a work culture that allowed managers to use
preferences to secure jobs for friends or family members, often those less qualified that
African-American applicants.
Furthermore, during our May 2010 meeting we discussed the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commissions response to C4Cs Freedom of Information Act inquiry on class
actions filed against federal agencies. If you recall, we shared with you that over 150 racebased class actions had been filed by African-Americans in a ten year period throughout
various Federal Government agencies. {See C4C video Racism in the Federal Government AZ
on our home page at www.coalition4change.org}. Also, during our May 2010 meeting we
informed you that thousands of African-American employees, applicants and contractors are
being adversely impacted by managers engaging in prohibited personnel practices. For these
reasons and others disclosed in the PowerPoint briefing we prepared for you, we asked that
your office initiate a written inquiry to OPM for termination data by race. When making our
request, we expressed concern that OPM did not make performance based or disciplined based
termination data available to the public by RACE. Yet, opportunely OPM offered the public
such termination data by categories (such as age, grade, gender, and location).

Open Letter
Rep. Edwards
Pg. 2

Over the course of 15 months, we continued to request that you write a letter to OPM
for performance based termination data by race. Although you were most amenable to meet
with our C4C members, at this juncture, your office has failed to write OPM regarding our
request for termination data by race. Your office has failed to write to OPM as agreed despite
several calls to your office and a separate visit to your Montgomery County Office. 1 Notably,
the dates below reflect various, but not all, of the e-mails or visits in which I, a constituent in
your district, inquired about OPM termination data by race.

May 22, 2010

Dec. 9, 2010
Feb. 22, 2011
March 9, 2011
May 10 2010
June 1, 2010
July 3, 2011
July 7, 2011
July 7, 2011
July 7, 2011
July 14, 2011

Formal request made at meeting w/Rep. Donna Edwards

E-mail to M. Speight
Inquiry w/Rep. Edwards during Open House In Suitland, Md.
Email to K. Owens
Email to K. Owens
Email to K. Owens
E-mail K. Owens/A. Christian
Email to K. Owens
Email to A. Christian
Email to A. Christian/K. Owens
Email to A. Christian/K. Owens

Your offices apparent failure to act on our request and to obtain a response from
OPM caused Ms. Adrienne Christian (Chief of Staff) and Ms. Katrina Owens (constituent
services representative) to give C4C misleading and contradictory information. Notably,
Ms. Christian informed me that an OPM official stated -- OPM does not capture
termination data by race. On the contrary, Ms. Owens claimed that OPM informed your
office that- OPM does capture termination by race and that it is displayed on OPMs
website at www.opm.gov. As we have reiterated to your staff on more than one occasion --OPM does not make performance data by race readily available on its website. 2 It is for this
reason that C4C members recommended that the administration capture the information on
its www.data.gov site. It is also the reason why C4C petitioned your office for assistance
some 15 months ago.
In closing, your office has still failed to respond to our request. Your failure, as
Marylands 4th Congressional District representative, to write a letter of inquiry to OPM
reflects a total disregard for constituents who elected you to advocate on their behalf. It is our
sincere hope that your office will honor your initial commitment and forward to C4C a copy of
the letter.
Sincerely
| Tanya Ward Jordan |
Tanya Ward Jordan, founder
The Coalition For Change, Inc. (C4C)

1 Circa

April 22, 2011 (Friday) C4C members attempted to visit with staff in your Montgomery County office;
however, based on the non-response upon buzzing the intercom intermittently for entry, your office seemed
unattended. Notably, no one answered the intercom after waiting an hour to obtain assistance.
2 C4C has sent three (3) separate FOIA requests to OPM for termination data by race and has received no response.