Title VI of the Civil Rights Act Training Overview for FTA Recipients

1. Federal Transit Administration Title VI of the Civil Rights Act Training Overview for FTA Funding Recipients

2. “No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activityreceivingFederal Financial assistance.” Title VI 1 2 3 4 42 U.S.C § 2000d, etseq

3. 2 Race, Color, & National Originare three ‘protected classes’ • Race • U.S. Census categories define race • Persons of any race are protected classes • Color • Discrimination based on skin color or complexion is prohibited • National Origin • Foreign born ancestry

4. 3 Program or Activity Applies institution-wide • Title VI applies institution-wide, not solely limited to primary recipients operations • Examples?

5. 4 Title VI applies to both Recipeints & Sub-recipeints • Recipient: • State DOT • Transit Agency • Or any public or private agency, institution, department or other organizational unit receiving funding from FTA • Sub-recipient: • any entity that receives FTA financial assistance as a pass-through from another entity

6. FTA Direct Grant Recipients meet their Title VI obligations through the Circular • Addresses requirements of FTA Title VI Circular 4702.1A, • AKA “The Circular” • Submission Recurrence • Recipients every 3 years • MPOs every 4 yrs http://www.fta.dot.gov/documents/Title_VI_Circular_4702.1A.pdf

7. FTA Circular 4702.1ATitle VI Guidelines for FTA Recipients

8. Guidelines for All Recipients and Subrecipients • Title VI guidelines cover: • Procedures for investigating complaints • How to record complaints, investigations, and lawsuits • Notifying the public of Title VI rights • EJ analysis in NEPA • Minority, low-income and LEP’s are included in decision making processes • Steps to ensure meaningful access for LEP persons

9. Procedures for Investigating Complaints Why must I develop complaint procedures? • Procedures are • for investigating and tracking complaints • available upon request

10. Complaint Procedures • What constitutes a complaint? • Legal Bases • Must Haves • Timeline for accepting complaint • Investigation and resolution timeline • Who investigates the complaint • Who resolves the complaint

11. Complaint Procedures • Reasons for dismissal • Report or letter of finding • Tracking complaint • Accessibility of complaints (written) • Language assistance measures • When to send to FTA

12. Notifying the Public of Rights THE CITY OF USA • The City of USA operates its programs without regard to race, color, and national origin in accordance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Any person who believes they have been aggrieved by any unlawful discriminatory practice under Title VI may file a complaint with the City of USA. • For more information on the City of USA’s civil rights program, the obligations, and procedures to file a complaint, contact 800-656-1234, (TTY 800-656-4567), email title.VIcomplaint@abc.org; visit our administrative office at 1234 Center Street, Anywhere, CA, 17970 www.city.usa.ca.us • If information is needed in another language contact, 800-656-1234 (MAKE SURE THIS IS IN THE OTHER LANGUAGE)

13. Public Involvement • Early and continuous opportunities to be involved in proposed transportation decisions • Meeting times, locations • Childcare • Use of social media • Citizens advisory • Non-traditional methods

14. Limited English Proficiency

15. Lau v Nichols, 1974 • Non-English-speaking students of Chinese origin sued San Francisco School District. • The Supreme Court ruled that a recipient’s failure to ensure meaningful opportunity to national origin minority, LEPs to participate in federally funded programs violates Title VI and Title VI regulations. • The school was to take reasonable affirmative steps to provide meaningful opportunity to participate in the federaly funded education program. • Applies beyond education to include all programs and activities of all recipients of federal financial assistance

16. LEP Executive Order 13166 • Signed by Clinton August, 2000 • Assess language needs • Determine steps to ensure meaningful access for LEPs • Develop a language access plan or alternative framework • Failing to ensure LEPs effectively participate in or benefit from federally assisted programs may constitute national origin discrimination

17. Four Factor Analysis for LEP • Number of LEPs eligible or likely to be encountered by program • Frequency that LEPs come into contact with program • Nature & importance of program to LEPs • Resources available and costs to program

19. Factor 1: Number or Proportion of LEPs • From a particular language group; • Eligible to be served or encountered; • The greater the number or proportion, the more services needed.

20. Factor 2: Frequency of Contact • Rule of thumb: • More contact= More enhanced services • What data would you analyze?

21. Factor 3: Nature & Importance of Program • Rule of thumb • More important=more contact • More contact=more likely to need langue services • What are the most important services?

22. Community Focus Groups

23. Factor 4: Cost • How much will it cost to deliver services?

24. Safe Harbor & LEP Thresholds • Safe Harbor- • Requires written translations of vital documents for each LEP group meeting threshold • LEP threshold- • 5% or 1,000 individuals, whichever is less. • Vital documents • Documents critical for accessing recipients services or benefits • Letters requiring response from customer • Informing customers of free language assistance • Complaint forms • Notification of rights

25. How are LEP plans typically implemented? • Popular Strategies • Publishing timetables and route maps in languages other than English • Multilingual phone lines and use of multilingual staff in information booths • Pictograms and multi-language announcements • Language Identification with “I Speak” cards • Advertising in ethnic media

26. I Speak Cards

29. LEP Model Plan

30. A Model Plan • A Model Plan guides you in determining the level of language access services you should provide • Includes comprehensive four factor analysis • Proportion of eligible LEPs • Frequency of Contact • Nature and Importance • Cost • Provides policies for evaluating language assistance providers

31. Sample ElementsModel Plan • Provide notice of right to language assistance • Identified vital documents for translation • i.e. any document that could deny an LEP access to a service • Important public notifications • Special meeting requests • Acquisition of property letters • Behavior signage

32. Training Staff on the Model Plan • Staff members should understand LEP policies, procedures, and how to carry them out • Train staff on: • Documenting LEP needs • Responding to LEP correspondence • Both callers and in-person contact • Responding to LEP civil rights complaints

33. Model Plan MonitoringAreas to Continuously Monitor • Current language needs of customers • Assess whether existing language assistance services are meeting the needs of LEP customers • Number of LEP persons in service area • Need for language assistance resources and arrangements • Feedback from LEP communities, including customers, and community organizations about the effectiveness language access plan.

34. Guidelines for Transit Agencies Serving Large Urban Areas • Collect demographic information on beneficiaries • Maps and overlays • Customer surveys • Local options • Service standards and policies • Set policies • Service and fare change analysis • Monitor • Report every three years to FTA

37. Customer survey

38. Headway

39. Weekday Span

40. Saturday Span

41. Service Coverage

42. Vehicle Load

44. Monitoring Program

45. Monitoring Program

46. Monitoring Program

47. Guidelines for State DOTs and Administering Agencies • Conduct statewide transportation planning in a non-discriminatory manner. • Subrecipients • Pass through FTA funds to subrecipients in a non-discriminatory manner. • Monitor subrecipients for compliance with Title VI. • Report every three years to FTA

48. Guidelines for Metropolitan Planning Organizations • Demographic profile of metropolitan area; ID locations (Minority, low-income) • Planning process ID’s needs of low-income and minority populations • Analytical process ID’s benefits & burdens of investments for different groups, ID imbalances and responding to the analysis • Subrecipients • Pass through FTA funds to subrecipients in a non-discriminatory manner. • Monitor subrecipients for compliance with Title VI. • Report every 4 years

49. Discrimination Prohibitions • Disparate Treatment (Intentional Discrimination):Actions that result in circumstances where similarly situated persons are treated different because of their race, color, or national origin. • Disparate Impact (Unintentional Discrimination): The recipient’s procedure or practice while neutral on its face has the effect of disproportionately excluding or adversely affecting members of the projected class without substantial legitimate justification.

50. Examples of Intentional? Examples of Unintentional?