Looking Back
In the 2021 LAO compliance report , OCEIA recommended that City stakeholders :
Increase language services planning and coordination for natural disasters and public health and safety emergencies ;
Expand bilingual certification and language fluency testing in both threshold and emerging languages ;
Increase City and community language access capacity ;
Develop more robust assessment , training and support for bilingual City employees ; and
Increase accountability for language access provisioning and LAO compliance .
During this fiscal year , there has been tangible advancement in some of these areas . For example , Departments successfully increased the number of bilingual employees certified by the Department of Human Resources ( DHR ). Community language access capacity was expanded through the OCEIA-sponsored Community Interpreters Training . The Immigrant Rights Commission supported compliance accountability through reconvening its Language Access Committee , holding special hearings on language access , and conducting the Language Access Community Survey .
Results from Department compliance data and the Language Access Community Survey still show areas for growth . Activities that include additional capacity-building , remote and virtual content adaptation , and language services planning will strengthen the impact of this year ’ s efforts and continue to improve language access compliance in future years .
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