216-RICR-20-05-3. WIC Program (version Amendment, 02/17/2002 to 02/26/2003)

Goals 2002 Section VIII Civil Rights And Appeal Section VIII - 1 SECTION VIII Civil Rights and Appeal Refer to WIC Procedure Manual Section 800 WIC Operations Manual Section 8 Goals 2002 Section VIII Civil Rights And Appeal Section VIII - 2 VIII CIVIL RIGHTS AND APPEAL Civil Rights Compliance Goal To ensure that no person shall, on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, sex or handicap, be denied the benefits of or be otherwise subjected to discrimination under the WIC Program. Objective 1: Assure access to minorities through multi-lingual information. Evaluation: Rhode Island WIC includes significant populations speaking one of six non-English languages. Program forms and outreach materials are translated in up to six languages. Plan: Newly developed or revised outreach materials will be translated into appropriate languages based on need. Racial/ethnic participation reports will be reviewed annually and shared with WIC local agencies. Reviews will compare most recent report to previous reports for each local agency and statewide, observe for trends as to changes in participation proportions for each group and observe for disproportionately low participation by any groups. Plans will be developed as needed to assure all groups have equal opportunity to participate. Objective 2: Assure new local agencies meet all nondiscrimination requirements. Evaluation: R.I. did not officially consider any new agencies this year. Requirements are set forth in the Operations Manual. Plan: Conduct a pre-award review on each new agency being considered for acceptance as a participating WIC Local Agency, in accordance with Sec. 8, State Operations Manual and FNS Instruction 113-2. Objective 3: Assure current local agencies meet all nondiscrimination requirements. Objective 5: Assure existing state and local agency staff are aware of nondiscrimination policies. Evaluation: One instance of a report of a possible civil rights noncompliance was reported in FY 2001. This is still being investigated.. All nondiscrimination requirements were met. The Annual WIC Training Conference included training on civil rights and cultural competence. It was attended by 95% of state and local agency WIC staff. State WIC staff attended cultural competence training as part of a Departmental initiative. Plan: Conduct compliance reviews of local agencies at least bi-annually. Provide civil Goals 2002 Section VIII Civil Rights And Appeal Section VIII - 3 rights training to all staff and as part of the orientation training. Integrate cultural competence training into the Annual Training. Objective 6: Assure public notification of nondiscrimination. Evaluation: The new nondiscrimination statement is being placed on all appropriate public information documents produced by the State Agency, and has been forwarded to local agency WIC programs. Plan: Continue to include the nondiscrimination statement on information notices, outreach materials and educational materials. Objective 7: Develop and provide an expanded report of racial, ethnic and language spoken participation by clinic. Evaluation; A monthly report is generated and reviewed at the State WIC office which provides information on participant demographic characteristics. This is shared with the local WIC sites on a yearly basis and upon request. Plan: Continue with process outlined above. Goals 2002 Section VIII Civil Rights And Appeal FAIR HEARINGS (Procedures 820, Operations - 8) Objective: Assure all participants/caretakers are advised of the right to a Fair Hearing Evaluation: Local agencies currently provide such information via standardized practices and forms. Plan: Review the translation of fair hearing information to ensure accuracy. Continue to provide appropriate information to appellants of fair hearings such as: - What to expect at the hearing. - Planning needed by the appellant. - Appellant's responsibility to present his/her case. - What documents appellants are entitled to see. - How to request such documents.