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ra~C ~ ut ~+ course of conducting public outreach and involvement activities. Recipients and subrecipients have wide latitude to determine what specific measures are most appropriate and should make this determination based on the composition of the population affected by the recipient's action, the type of public involvement process planned by the recipient, and the resources available to the agency. a. Public outreach and involvement activities commonly undertaken by FTA recipients and subrecipients include: (1) Providing notice and affording members of the public the opportunity to Comment on proposed service and fare changes. (2) Providing members of the public the opportunity to participate in the decision-making process for projects subject to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), including providing members of the public the opportunity to comment on Environmental Assessments (EA) and Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) prepared by the recipient. (3) Providing members of the public the opportunity to participate in the agency's strategic planning or capital improvement planning process or to comment on the agency's strategic plan or capital improvement program (4) Offering the public routine opportunities to provide feedback on a transit agency's level and quality of service. b. Examples of Efforts to Involve Minority and Low-income Populations in the Decision-making Process. Recipient and subrecipient's efforts to involve minority and low-income persons in these and other public involvement activities can include both comprehensive measures, such as placing public notices at all stations and in all vehicles, and measures targeted to overcome linguistic, institutional, cultural, economic, historical, or other barriers that may prevent minority and low-income persons and populations from effectively participating in a recipient's decision-making process. Examples include: (1) Coordination with individuals, institutions, or organizations to reach out to members in the affected minority and/or low-income communities. (2) Provision of opportunities for public participation through means other than written communication, such as personal interviews or use of audio or video recording devices to capture oral comments. (3) Use of locations, facilities, and meeting times that are local, convenient and accessible to disabled, low-income, and minority communities. (4) Use of different meeting sizes or formats, or variation in the type and number of news media used to announce public participation opportunities, so that communications are tailored to the particular community or population. (5) Implementing DOT's policy guidance concerning recipients' responsibilities to LEP persons to overcome barriers to public participation. (6) Providing assistance to people with disabilities, including individuals who are blind, have low- vision, or are hearing impaired. 4. LANGUAGE ACCESS. In order to campiy with 49 CFR §21.5(bx7), recipients and subrecipients shall administer programs and activities consistent with the DOT Policy Guidance Concerning Recipients' Responsibilities to Limited English Proficient Persons. This guidance instructs recipients and subrecipients to prepare and maintain a copy of their implementation plan on language assistance. The development of an implementation plan for language assistance will allow recipients and subrecipients to take reasonable steps to ensure meaningful access to their programs by LEP persons as set out in the DOT Guidance on LEP. The implementation plan on language assistance should include the following components: a. Recipients and subrecipients should identify individuals who need language assistance and prepare a needs assessment that should include: (i) The number or proportion of LEP persons eligible to be served or likely to be encountered by a progam, activity, or service; (2) The frequency with which those persons come into contact with the program; and 1/lb/2007 `''t