This report reflects not only the Department of Health, Education and Welfare's accomplishments in civil rights since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but also describes the areas encompassed by HEW's current and future civil rights activities. From the early and primary emphasis on school desegregation in the southern and border States, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has expanded its program to treat many of the special kinds of discrimination suffered by national origin minorities and women. It is the responsibility of OCR to ensure that HEW-assisted activities are conducted and services are provided without discrimination because of race, color, religion, national origin or sex. OCR turned its attention to hospital and extended care facilities, for example, with the advent of Medicare in 1966. For the most part, such facilities were desegregated by 1967. While desegregation of public school districts has attracted more attention, OCR has also been seeking to eliminate the dual system of higher education, vestiges of which still exist in many southern states. In early 1974 OCR was given enforcement responsibility for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits discrimination against physically or mentally handicapped individuals in Federally assisted programs. (Author/JM)