Recommendations
Increase language services planning and coordination for natural disasters and public health and safety emergencies .
The COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that advance preparation and close coordination across emergency response and public serving departments is vital to informing the public and keeping everyone safe . While the Language Access Ordinance ( LAO ) requires departments to prepare emergency plans , departments still struggle with providing adequate translation and interpretation services during emergencies and public health or safety situations . The expectation that the Office of Civic Engagement & Immigrant Affairs ' ( OCEIA ' s ) small unit of only 2.5 language specialists can handle all emergency requests simultaneously from multiple departments is unrealistic . An interagency team needs to be convened to work with OCEIA , the Immigrant Rights Commission , and key departments to 1 ) develop and build emergency language translation and interpretation capacity and protocols ; and 2 ) train bilingual-certified employees who have adequate levels of language fluency in the languages understood and spoken by San Francisco ’ s diverse populations . Website translation should be adequately funded and supported so that information is culturally and linguistically accurate across departments and easily assessible on the City ’ s official website .
Expand bilingual certification and language fluency testing in both threshold and emerging languages .
The Department of Human Resources currently tests and certifies bilingual employees in 10 languages . Certification ensures that employees meet a minimum standard of proficiency in their language skills and comes with a modest pay incentive to encourage more utilization of language abilities . To better serve the City ’ s diverse residents , certification could be expanded to all languages that are consistently used by departments to better meet the needs of residents and workers , including both threshold ( Chinese , Filipino , Spanish ) and non-threshold languages such as Russian , Vietnamese , Korean , Mayan , Arabic , French Creole , et cetera . It is also recommended that an intermediate and / or advanced level assessment be developed to identify bilingual employees who can perform translation and interpretation during emergencies and public health or safety situations .
Increase city and community language access capacity .
Moving forward , OCEIA will begin implementation of the Community Interpreters Bank Pilot Program by May 2021 , working closely with City departments and communitybased organizations to increase City and community capacity for language access , as well as exploring economic opportunities in language services for bilingual community members .
While the LAO requires departments to be responsible for provisioning translation , interpretation and other language services to meet the needs of their clients and city residents , OCEIA will continue to update tools , provide professional training and assist departments with their planning .
OCEIA ’ s Language Access Unit will continue to partner with the Office of the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors to increase civic participation in public meetings . OCEIA will also continue to provide limited direct language assistance to departments for urgent , emergency , and public safety situations .
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