Transcript Title VI State DOT Overview

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Title VI
• “No person in the
United States shall, on
the ground of race,
color, or national 2
origin, be excluded
from participation in,
be denied the benefits
of, or be subjected to
discrimination under
3 any program or activity
receiving Federal 4
Financial assistance.”
42 U.S.C § 2000d, et seq
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Race, Color, & National Origin
are 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
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Program or Activity
Applies institution-wide
• Title VI applies institution-wide, not
solely limited to primary recipients
operations
• Examples?
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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
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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
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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
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
Complaint Procedures
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Reasons for dismissal
Report or letter of finding
Tracking complaint
Accessibility of complaints (written)
Language assistance measures
When to send to FTA
Notifying the Public of Rights
• 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 [email protected]; 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)
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
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
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
Four Factor Analysis for LEP
1) Number of LEPs eligible or likely to be
encountered by program
2) Frequency that LEPs come into contact with
program
3) Nature & importance of program to LEPs
4) Resources available and costs to program
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.
Factor 2:
Frequency of Contact
• Rule of thumb:
– More contact= More enhanced services
– What data would you analyze?
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?
Community Focus Groups
Reg/LIFT/ATP
Directions
Fares/Tickets Routes/Schedules
Service Disruptions
Emergency Info
Behavior Requirements
Emergency Response
Safety/Security
Evacuation
Delivery of Information
Auditory
Pictogram
Translated
Factor 4: Cost
• How much will it cost to deliver services?
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
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
I Speak Cards
A Model Plan
• A Model Plan guides you in determining the
level of language access services you should
provide
• Includes comprehensive four factor analysis
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2)
3)
4)
Proportion of eligible LEPs
Frequency of Contact
Nature and Importance
Cost
• Provides policies for evaluating language
assistance providers
Sample Elements
Model 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
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
Model Plan Monitoring
Areas 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.
Guidelines for Transit Agencies Serving
Large Urban Areas
• Collect demographic information on beneficiaries
– Maps and overlays
– Customer surveys
– Local options
• Service standards and policies
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Set policies
Service and fare change analysis
Monitor
Report every three years to FTA
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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 nondiscriminatory manner.
– Monitor subrecipients for compliance with Title VI.
• Report every three years to FTA
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 nondiscriminatory manner.
– Monitor subrecipients for compliance with Title VI.
• Report every 4 years
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.
Service & Fare Equity Analysis
Summary Points
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Evaluate changes during planning
Determine if discriminatory impact
Compare “apples-to-apples”
Explain methodology
Use graphics
Describe actions to mitigate
Remember! Compare Apples to Apples,
Oranges to Oranges
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Distribution of the African American
Population in Missouri
11.2% of Missouri’s population is African American.
Yellow = 0 to 6% of population is African American. Dark Green = 15 to 51%
of population is African American
Distribution of the African American
Population in Texas
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11% of state’s population is African American. Yellow = population 0 to 6%, dark
green = population above 12 to 33%
Distribution of the Latino Population
in Texas
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32% of the State’s population is Latino Yellow = 0 to 22%, Dark Green = 40-97%
Distribution of the Native American
Population in Arizona
Statewide Native American population = 5%.
Dark Green = 47—76% Native American Population
Distribution of the Median
Household Income in Ohio
Ohio Median Household Income = $40,956
Dark Green = $55,000--$67,000. Light Yellow = $27,000--$31,000
Distribution of the Median
Household Income in New York
New York Median Household Income = $43,393.
Light yellow = $27,000--$34,000. Dark Green = $63,000--$72,000
Transit Can Help Promote
Integrated Communities
• Transit-Oriented Development in cities and
suburbs that includes affordable,
accessible housing
• Goal should be stable integration
• Rural transportation provides vital access
to jobs and services
But in the meantime…
• States can remain divided by race and income.
• Roads and transit often serve or impact
predominantly minority and predominantly nonminority communities, as well as low-income and
more affluent communities.
• This divide means the potential for disparate
impact continues to exist.
Second Underlying Issue: A
Growing Multicultural Society
• Immigration Trends and immigration in rural
areas.
• Transportation planning and operations are
occurring in a wider variety of cultural contexts.
• Government needs to guard against national
origin discrimination and serve people with
limited English proficiency.
Limited English Proficient
Population of Nebraska
7% of Nebraska’s population speaks English less than “very well”
Yellow = 0—2.1%. Dark Green = 14.5—19.5%
State DOT Title VI Requirements
• Submit procedures/analysis used to
determine that the effect of statewide
planning processes is not discriminatory.
• Describe procedures agency uses to pass
financial assistance through to recipients.
• Describe procedures agency uses to
provide assistance to sub-recipients.
• Describe how agency monitors subrecipients’ compliance with Title VI and
summary of results of monitoring.
State DOT Title VI Requirements
(included in Title VI Circular 4702.1)
• Ensure that Section 5310 and 5311 funds
are provided on an equitable basis.
• Monitor Section 5310 and 5311 funding
recipients to ensure that they are
complying with Title VI.
Ensuring Equity in Funding
Section 5310 and 5311 Applicants
• Maintain a record of funding requests.
• Describe how the State DOT selects applicants for
funding
--Describe the selection criteria
--Maintain a list of applicants seeking funds.
--Determine whether an applicant provides
assistance to minority communities.
--Indicate whether the application was approved.
• Equity problems may exist if significantly more applicants
serving minority communities are rejected and there is
no substantial justification for rejecting these applicants.
Use Thresholds to Determine Whether an
Applicant Serves Protected Populations
• 1. Define the service area of the applicant for
Section 5310 or Section 5311 funding.
• 2. Collect demographic data on the service
area of the applicants.
• 3. Determine the statewide percentage of
protected groups.
• 4. Compare the percentage of protected
groups served by the applicants to the
statewide average.
Monitoring Section 5310 and 5311
Subrecipients
• State DOT needs to include Title VI in its monitoring
activities.
• All subrecipients need to have Title VI complaint
procedures in place and notify the public of their right to
file a Title VI complaint.
• Complaint form
• Notice to the public
• LEP
• All subrecipients need to provide a level and quality of
service that is equitable
• All subrecipients need to have an inclusive public
involvement process.
State DOT Title VI Complaint
Procedures
• State DOTs need to have a Title VI
Complaint procedure in place and notify
the public of their right to file a Title VI
complaint.
Benefits and Burdens Analysis
1.
Overlay projects proposed in the State Transportation
Improvement Plan over demographic maps of the state.
2.
Develop analytical methods for identifying the benefits and
burdens of transportation projects to minority and low-income
populations.
3.
Develop a process to respond when analysis identifies an
imbalance between the benefits and burdens on minority and lowincome populations of projects in the STIP.
4.
Implement a strategy for engaging minority, low-income, and
limited English proficient populations in the state transportation
planning process.
Examples of Benefits and Burdens of
Transportation Projects
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Benefits
Travel time savings
Improved safety
Improved access to
transportation
network
• Economic
development
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Burdens
Air pollution
Noise and vibration
Disruptions in
community cohesion
• Traffic congestion
• Relocation