MPO Policy and Procedures Manual - Indianapolis Metropolitan ...

7. Title VI/Environmental Justice
The purpose of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is to prohibit programs that receive federal
funds from discriminating against participants or clients based on race, color, national origin,
gender, age or handicap/disability. The intent of the law is to insure that all persons, regardless
of their ace, color, national origin, gender, age or disability, are allowed to participate in these
federally funded programs. To insure the MPO and its sub-recipients meet their compliance
responsibility, the following procedures have been established to provide for monitoring of Title
VI compliance activities and complaint processing in all programs, directly or indirectly
responsible to the MPO, all of which receive federal funding in whole or part. The MPO reaffirms
its policies to afford all individuals the chance to participate in federally financially assisted
programs and adopts the following provision:
“In accordance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil
Rights Restoration Act of 1987, the Indianapolis MPO does not
discriminate based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age or
disability.”
The MPO has developed Title VI Complaint Procedures (see Appendix D) that has been
formerly adopted by the IRTC and the MDC. The document details the procedures that will be
followed if a Title VI complaint is received by the MPO. This document details those individuals
eligible to file a complaint, the staff members charged with investigating the complaint, the
complaint process, and the procedures to be followed should the complaint be found to have
merit. This document should be reviewed on an annual basis to ensure the contact information
is current.
The above statement, as outlined in the Title VI Complaint Procedures will be published in the
introductory materials of all official MPO documents, plans, and studies. The MPO’s
Environmental Justice efforts assures an effective model is adopted that will serve the entire
region
The MPO also includes non-discriminatory assurances in all consultant contracts that are
binding on them, and any sub-contractors that may become involved, to assure that all planning
activities are carried out in accordance with Title VI. Also, in keeping with Title VI and the
Brooks Act, the consultant selection process is competitive and qualification based.
Environmental Justice
In 1994 President Clinton passed Environmental Justice Orders that serve to further define and
amplify Title VI by providing that “each Federal agency shall make achieving environmental
justice part of its mission by identifying and addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high
and adverse human health of environmental effects of its programs, policies and activities on
minority populations and low income populations.”
In order to assure that Environmental Justice (EJ) goals are addressed by the MPO’s planning
process a formal Environmental Justice Program was prepared in 2007 that conducted a
thorough demographic profile of the entire Metropolitan Planning Area; identified existing
neighborhood and other community organizations; and created a model that will enable the
MPO staff to utilize existing neighborhood and community organization meetings to share
information and seek community input concerning transportation improvements that may affect
39