Intake Methods Used by Departments
Since 2009 , the Office of Civic Engagement & Immigrant Affairs ( OCEIA ) has encouraged departments to use reliable methods for collecting and reporting more detailed language access data . After OCEIA developed forms and digital tools that could be used across the City , departments have significantly improved in this area and have shifted to using intake forms instead of surveys and telephone calls to count client interactions . Of 53 departmental submissions for FY 2019-2020 , 28 departments used an intake method , 11 departments used a survey , 10 departments used telephone logs , and four departments used other methods to estimate the number of LEP clients .
Intake Method : Forms that include questions about a client ’ s primary language . The information entered on these forms is often stored in an digital database / customer relationship management ( CRM ) system . These data systems should have the capability to generate reports based on primary language .
Survey Method : Conducting an annual survey of all contacts with the public during a period of at least two weeks .
Telephonic Method : Calculating the annual number of requests for telephonic interpretation services , based on phone logs .
LEP Client Interactions
Of 28,539,171 client interactions reported across all departments , 2.3 % ( 659,184 ) were with LEP clients . Of these , 287,474 ( 43.6 %) were in Cantonese , 26,726 ( 4.1 %) were in Mandarin , 256,990 ( 38.9 %) were in Spanish , 15,639 ( 2.4 %) were in Filipino , 16,166 ( 2.5 %) were in Vietnamese , 19,037 ( 2.9 %) were in Russian , and 37,152 ( 5.7 %) were in other languages .
LEP Clients by Language
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LEP Interactions Over Time
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FY 14-15 FY 15-16 FY 16-17 FY 17-18 FY 18-19 FY 19-20
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Despite an increase in the City ’ s total population , departments reported that LEP client interactions across all languages decreased , with the largest drop in Cantonese , Spanish , and Mandarin LEP clients .
For FY 2018-2019 , departments reported 811,645 * total LEP client interactions , a decrease from the previous reporting period . In FY 2019-2020 , that number continued to decrease by 19 %, to 659,184 LEP interactions . Another important trend to observe is the percentage of LEP interactions as a proportion of all client interactions citywide .
* Numbers reported may include multiple interactions with the same client ; departments may be reporting bilingual interactions of any duration , not just LEP interactions .
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