REPORT SUMMARY
The City & County of San Francisco( the City) continues to lead the nation in prioritizing language access and improving the efficacy and implementation of the Language Access Ordinance( LAO). For FY 2016-2017, 51 City departments, or 100 % of required reporting departments, submitted progress reports. While some departments continue to face challenges in tracking data and capturing client information, there has been a steady increase in the number of Limited English Proficient( LEP) individuals served. In the past year, departments increased their in-person and telephonic interpretation services; overall, there was a 3 % increase in LEP clients served.
Interestingly, while departments have become more conscientious about translating information for the public, the reported number of translated printed materials decreased, as did overall language service expenditures. Translation tends to be a one-time cost, so unless materials are updated or new documents are created, this trend is likely to continue.
NEW REPORTING
This year, the Office of Civic Engagement & Immigrant Affairs( OCEIA) introduced online dashboards, a new way to visualize individual and aggregated data over a three-year period. The dashboards allow easy comparison and assessment of each department’ s progress toward its self-defined language access goals, along with the ability to monitor systemic language access patterns and analyze LAO data across different variables.
Individual department data and citywide information are now easily accessible through the online dashboards at: sfgov. org / oceia / laoreport
DEPARTMENTAL COMPLIANCE: BY THE NUMBERS
51 Departments
Required to File Reports
8 | LAO 2018
51 Departments Filed Reports
39 Departments
Filed Reports on Time