Office of Equal Opportunity - Title VI FAQ
Q. What is Title VI?
A.
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the federal law that protects individuals and groups from discrimination based on their race, color, and national origin in programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance. Title VI includes other civil rights provisions of federal statutes and related authorities, to the extent that it prohibits discrimination in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.
Q. What is a recipient of federal financial assistance?
A. Recipients of federal funds range from state and local agencies to nonprofits and other organizations. Federal financial assistance includes grants, training, use of equipment, donations of surplus property and other assistance. Subrecipients are covered when federal funds are passed down from a recipient to a subrecipient. A list of the types of recipients and agencies funding them is at
Executive Order 12250 Coordination of Grant-Related Civil Rights Statutes.
Title VI covers a recipient's entire program or activity. The provisions of Title VI apply even when federal funding is limited to one part of the recipient.
More information is at
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 42 U.S.C. § 2000d et seq.
Q. What does Title VI do?
A. Title VI prohibits:
- Entities from discriminatorily denying a protected individual any service, financial aid or other benefit under the covered programs and activities.
- Entities from providing services or benefits to some individuals that are different from or inferior (in quantity or quality) to those provided to others.
- Segregation or separate treatment in any manner related to receiving program services or benefits.
- Entities from imposing different standards or conditions as prerequisites for serving individuals.
Q. Who are considered persons under Title VI?
A. Everyone is considered a person under Title VI. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects all individuals, regardless of their immigration status or citizenship, from discrimination based on race, color, or national origin. This includes undocumented individuals as the Supreme Court has ruled they are “person’s” under the equal protection clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.
Q. What "Programs or Activities" are covered by Title VI?
A. Title VI covers the entire agency receiving federal financial assistance, not just specific programs. For example, when SHA received federal funds, all of its programs are subject to Title VI, even if only a small portion of the budget comes from those funds. The Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 amended Title VI and related statues by adding a broad definition of program or activity, making it clear that if any part of an agency gets federal assistance, the whole agency must comply with Title VI’s nondiscrimination rules.
Q. Who must comply?
A. The following must comply:
- State and local government agencies distributing federal assistance or entities distributing federal assistance to the State or local government.
- Colleges, universities and other post-secondary institutions.
- Local educational agencies and systems of vocational education, and other school systems.
- Entire corporations, partnerships, private organizations and sole proprietorships.
- Entire private organizations in education, housing and healthcare.
- Entire plants and private corporations, as well as other organizations that are geographically separate facilities to which federal financial assistance is extended.
Q. Who may file a Title VI complaint?
A. Complaints may be filed by any individual or group who believes:
- That their rights, under Title VI, have been violated in a discriminatory manner,
- That SHA’s programs or activities do not comply with federal civil rights laws, or
- That they have been treated in a disparate manner.
Q. How can an individual or group file a complaint?
A. If you believe that you or others protected by Title VI have been discriminated against, you may file a complaint by using SHA’s Title VI complaint form. Every effort will be made to complete the investigation within 180 days.