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Overview

OKI listens intently to you. That’s because your ideas and opinions help shape a stronger, more inclusive region for all. We seek input from people across all communities and backgrounds. Our Participation Plan outlines how we gather and use this information. OKI gets federal money to help decide where and how it’s spent. Because of that, we follow clear rules to make sure these funds are used fairly and without discrimination.

Update to Public Participation Plan

In 2026, OKI updated our Public Participation Plan to further develop effective solutions to regional issues and needs. The plan included these updates:

  1. Updated to current law on OKI’s effort to gain involvement from the elderly, low-income people and people with disabilities and households with no car
  2. Reflects our ongoing and ever-expanding use of technology for communication
  3. Specifies our work with housing groups and professionals
  4. Wrote the document in greater Plain English so more people find it easier to read

Plan’s four distinct but related elements:

Element 1

Presents a policy and process for involvement including focused special efforts to involve select populations

Element 2

Describes a process for defining the population groups and areas in the OKI region to be a focus for outreach processes and procedures

Element 3

Describes a process for assessing the equity of transportation investments on behalf select populations

Element 4

Lists the initiatives that OKI will implement to support the plan

View the 2026 Participation Plan

Role of OKI’s Participation Plan

OKI has had an active public participation process for years​

History of Public Participation​

In 1994, President Bill Clinton issued Executive Order 12898 (E.O. 12898) to ensure that federal funds are used fairly and without discrimination.

In 2003, OKI adopted a policy for Environmental Justice that has since been incorporated into the OKI Participation Plan. This policy expands OKI’s efforts to involve the public in its transportation decision-making. 

The policy enhances OKI’s outreach efforts, particularly for low-income population groups, the elderly, individuals with disabilities and zero-car households. In support of our policy, OKI established an EJ Advisory Committee in 2000. This was incorporated into the Community Advisory Committee in 2025.

View OKI’s Community advisory committee

Title VI Addresses Which Groups?

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin.

DOT Order 5610.2(a) and E.O. 12898 listed persons belonging to the following populations: minority and low-income groups. The elderly population and people with disabilities were included in FAST Act,  but they are not required to be addressed under these provisions.

Zero-Car households are a logical and reasonable extension of these provisions. By virtue of OKI’s commitment to the intent of these provisions, OKI follows Title VI and continues to expand its transportation planning process to specifically consider select population groups: low-income, elderly, people with disabilities and zero-car households.

View the Title VI Program

How Does Public Participation Improve Decision Making?

Public participation should be part of every transportation decision — from the first thought about a transportation plan to after the project is built and maintained. When done right, these processes and plans make transportation decisions better at all stages. This approach will:

  • Result in better transportation decisions that meet the needs of all people
  • Help design transportation facilities that fit more harmoniously into communities
  • Make the public involvement process better, build stronger community partnerships, and give the elderly, people with disabilities or low incomes, and zero-car households the chance to learn about and improve transportation in their lives
  • Improve how data is collected, tracked and analyzed to better understand the needs of specific groups and how transportation affects them
  • Enable OKI to partner with other public and private programs to leverage resources and achieve a common goal for communities
  • Help prevent disproportionately negative impacts on people with low incomes or a disability, the elderly, and zero-car households.
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