Agenda - 09-14-2006-3 - Laserfiche WebLink

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is Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits recipients of federal assistance from discriminating against or otherwise excluding individuals on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any of their activities. Section 601 of Title VI, 42 U.S.G. Sec. 2000d, provides: "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 af, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." Recipients of federal funding are required to take reasonable steps to ensure meaningful access to their programs and activities by LEP persons who are five percent (5%) of the total population or 1000 individuals, whichever is less. While the standard of "reasonable steps to ensure meaningful access" is designed to be a flexible and fact-dependent standard, the starting point is an individualized assessment that balances several different factors such as the number or proportion of LEP persons eligible to be served or likely to be encountered by the program or grantee; the frequency with which LEP individuals come in contact with the program; the nature and importance of the program, activity, ar service provided by the program to people's lives, and the resources available to the grantee recipient and costs. Title VI in Orange County Under Title VI guidelines, Orange County is currently required to provide meaningful access to Spanish speaking LEP individuals. However, Chinese (Mandarin) speaking LEP individuals are a growing population in Orange County and access services may soon be required for this population as well. The Health Department, Department of Saciai Services, Emergency Management Services (EMS) and the Immigrant Emergency Communications Group (a collaborative effort of Health and EMS) were among the first to experience challenges