Reso 2013-136 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

2 LANGUAGE ACCESS PLAN FOR PROVIDING FEDERALLY FUNDED ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENT (LEP) PERSONS IN THE CITY OF SAN LEANDRO BACKGROUND This Language Access Plan (LAP) describes the City of San Leandro’s efforts to ensure meaningful access to federally funded programs and activities by San Leandro residents who are Limited English Proficient (LEP). Section 601 of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides that no person shall “on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Executive Order 13166- “Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency”, requires that recipients of federal financial assistance provide meaningful access to LEP applicants and beneficiaries. The Executive Order establishes that differing treatment based upon a person’s inability to speak, read, write, or understand English is a type of national origination discrimination. It directs each federal agency to publish guidance for its respective recipients clarifying their obligation to ensure that such discrimination does not take place. This order applies to all State and local agencies that receive federal funds. It should be noted that the City has long supported assistance to LEP residents but has not always had adequate capacity and resources to provide additional services. To ensure that LEP residents have meaningful access to housing and community development programs and services, however, the City has been translating various public notices and documents into Spanish and Chinese for several years. Since 1997, the City has also offered bilingual/multi-lingual staff compensation when they provide qualifying translation services. There are 47 of these employees now, and languages include: Cantonese; Mandarin; Spanish; Tagalog; Portuguese; Fukienese; Taiwanese; Hebrew; Hindi; Ibo; Latvian; and Russian. Police Department staff, including off-site police officers, utilize AT&T’s translation service that handles many non- English languages when a LEP person requests language assistance. Two City staff members are also qualified to provide American Sign Language (ASL) services. Moreover, the City provides ASL services for public hearings/meetings when requested in advance by a resident. This LAP is intended for use by the City of San Leandro’s staff and by subrecipients of any federal funding to provide meaningful access to programs and services for persons of Limited English proficiency(LEP).