Jessica Creighton is the Acting Director for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights with the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Ms. Creighton received her B.A. in Journalism from the University of Maryland. After a seven-year stint as an editor at large metropolitan dailies, Ms. Creighton served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Costa Rica managing rural community development projects.
As a Bilingual Equal Opportunity Specialist and, subsequently, a Lead Equal Opportunity Specialist at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Civil Rights Center, Ms. Creighton enforced nondiscrimination and equal opportunity laws in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance. Ms. Creighton acted as the division’s chief consultant on Limited English Proficiency and Executive Order 13166, providing guidance to state governments on language assistance requirements. In her time at the Department of Labor, Ms. Creighton also completed a detail with the International Labor Relations Bureau’s Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, managing development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean and implementing projects that addressed the impact of race, ethnicity, and disability on global child labor issues.
Most recently, Ms. Creighton has worked as an Equal Opportunity Specialist with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. Ms. Creighton’s extensive experience includes conducting compliance reviews and complaint investigations under a wide range of civil rights laws and regulations, including Title VI and Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act, Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, Title IX of the Education Amendments Act, Title II and Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, The Architectural Barriers Act, and The Age Discrimination Act.
