To: Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, and Board of Directors of the Sonoma County Water Agency, Community Development Commission, and the Agricultural & Open Space District.
Department or Agency Name(s): Office of Equity
Staff Name and Phone Number: Alegría De La Cruz, 565-8980
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Language Access Policy Workshop
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
A) Review Recommended Language Access Policy.
B) Provide staff direction on Final Policy and Implementation Plan.
end
Executive Summary:
Our community has long recognized the critical need for culturally responsive and consistent language access provision in our County. This need has been elevated by the experiences of County residents who do not speak English during disasters.
Both County leadership and community members identified the opportunity to establish a consistent, county-wide approach to language access provision through the creation of a Plan and Policy during the engagement and prioritization process leading to American Rescue Plan Act investments in December 2021. As a result, the Board approved the distribution of $1.16 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for investments in building and strengthening the County’s cultural responsiveness, including the development of a Language Access Policy and Plan.
Subsequently, on September 20, 2022, the Board delegated authority to the Director of the Office of Equity to execute a Professional Services Agreement with Nimdzi Insights, LLC for language access consulting services for a not-to-exceed amount of $185,850. The agreement’s intended product was the creation of a Language Access Plan and Policy to achieve equitable participation and access to County government services supporting underserved communities of color and other communities that have traditionally experienced marginalization from government processes and services.
This item provides policy and plan options for oversight, accountability, infrastructure, staffing, budget, and other resources. At the end of the workshop, staff will receive direction from your Board to finalize the Language Access Plan and Policy to come to your Board for approval in May 2024.
Budget recommendations will be included for consideration in upcoming and future budget hearings.
Discussion:
Introduction
The County of Sonoma Language Access Draft Policy was developed as part of a year-long project led by the Office of Equity in 2023. As directed by the Board, this project seeks to improve the provision of language access to the linguistically diverse (LD) communities living in Sonoma County. While the provision of language access is required by Federal and State Laws, this draft Policy and associated draft Plan for the Board’s consideration will both meet the minimum legal requirements and facilitate and ensure meaningful engagement of LD community residents with County government.
Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals are covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and as such, this Policy focuses on language access policies for Limited English Proficient (LEP) individuals. Information about the County’s accessibility for Deaf and Hard of Hearing populations is located here: https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/accessibility-information#:~:text=The%20County%20has%20adopted%20an,level%20with%20a%20simple%20inquiry <https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/accessibility-information> .
The Language Access Project assessed the language access needs, coverage, and gaps in the County of Sonoma through analysis of language and other demographic data; comparison of the County’s legal and regulatory framework for language access with federal, California, and municipal laws, regulations, policies, and plans; consultations with County employees and leaders; and consultations with community members representing the LD populations of the Sonoma County.
Background
In March 2021, the Board approved a 5-year Strategic Plan, which includes a Racial Equity and Social Justice (RESJ) pillar <<https://socostrategicplan.org/racial-equity-and-social-justice/>>. The Board directed the Office of Equity (OOE) to lead the implementation of the pillar’s specific goals and objectives, which reflect the Board’s commitment to institutionalize equity-centered principles in the County’s processes and service delivery to address racial inequities both in our organization and in the community. Goal 4 of the RESJ pillar is to engage community members and stakeholder groups to develop priorities and to advance racial equity. Through the creation of the Language Access Plan and Policy, county departments and agencies will have an actionable roadmap to implement Strategic Plan Objective (Goal 4/Objective 4).
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit our community, the impacts on communities of color, as well as low-income, essential worker, immigrant, and non-English speaking populations were disproportional and pointed to critical changes needed in the way local governments engaged with their LD residents to avoid future disproportionality in impact. As a result of deep community engagement and a County-wide prioritization process, on December 14, 2021, the Board approved the distribution of $1.16 million of the $96 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds on a set of departmental proposals for investments in cultural responsiveness. The investments in cultural responsiveness included three projects that were identified as critically important to the County’s better understanding and service to the different culturally and LD communities living in Sonoma County, including the need for the creation of a Language Access Plan and associated Policy.
Key Findings
The Project team engaged with County staff and leaders, as well as county residents representing the linguistically diverse (LD) communities and created a summary of key findings to address in the Policy (See Draft Language Access Policy attachment). These include:
1. Per the 2020 census data, 11.8% of Sonoma county’s population over 5 years of age speaks English less than “very well.”
2. The County of Sonoma has a good understanding of the high-level requirements to provide language access, but in-depth knowledge of specific communities and/or specific challenges in providing language access was not as strong.
3. Community leaders have a more thorough understanding of the legal rights and requirements related to language access.
4. The provision of language access during natural disasters and recovery is constrained by a number of factors, including:
a) Geography, as the provision of remote (telephonic and internet enabled) language access is hampered in areas with poor cell and/or broadband availability;
b) Availability of onsite interpreters may be impacted by the disaster itself, as interpreters, whether these interpreters are contractors, staff interpreters, or bilingual County employees;
c) Bilingual employees reported high need in the provision of language access at recovery centers and during other aspects of the County’s response to natural disasters.
d) Language access for disaster alerts should be expanded.
4. Community members cite several overall gaps in the provision of language access in general, including:
a) Poor quality translations of forms and information;
b) Lack language access provision in Indigenous Languages of Mexico and Guatemala and Asian languages; and,
c) Lack of knowledge of language access rights.
Recommended Policy
A. Statement:
It is the policy of the County of Sonoma to provide language access to residents, workers, and visitors to the County with thoughtful regard and care for the languages in which they prefer to communicate with their local County government.
B. Purpose:
The purpose of this Policy Statement is to improve access to County services for workers, residents, and visitors who do not speak English as their primary language, or who do not speak any English and to improve outreach to those residents.
C. The recommended Policy, attached hereto as Attachment 1, will
1) establish procedures for providing language access to County services and programs to residents, including those with limited or no proficiency in English, through interpretation, translation and localization;
2) notify the public about the Policy and how County residents can access language assistance services;
3) establish a focal point to assist all County agencies in providing, tracking and evaluating language access services.
This draft Policy is designed to meet the State of California requirements under the California Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act, Government Code §7290 et seq., which requires California State and local public agencies serving a substantial number of limited English-speaking people to provide services and materials in the language(s) spoken by those persons. It is also designed to meet the federal requirements of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with respect to language access, as elaborated in Presidential Executive Order 13166, which requires recipients of Federal funding to provide meaningful language access to LEP individuals whom they serve. Together, these laws create a responsibility to translate and interpret when at least five percent of the population speaks the same language other than English.
Today’s draft Policy is informed by input from community, staff, and County leadership to identify best practices for language access in a culturally responsive manner between County departments and community members and to break down barriers to access services to the County of Sonoma programs and services. The Policy’s development utilized a four-phase process, including an internal review which compared the County to other local jurisdictions (See Comparative Jurisdictions Report attachment), a demographic analysis of the languages in our community (See County Demographic Analysis Report attachment), internal focus groups held with bilingual staff and County leadership and, external focus groups held with LD community members and organizations that serve these communities.
Because there is not yet a consistent approach or policy to provide language access in the County of Sonoma, the implementation Plan (See Draft Language Access Plan included for the Board’s review and reference) addresses the steps needed to collect, analyze, evaluate and ultimately recommend ongoing investment and best practices to implement and keep the Policy updated.
Workshop Discussion and Policy Options for Consideration:
Staff will present Policy options consistent with legal requirements for the provision of language access for implementation department(s) with leadership responsibility for this work for finalization of the Policy and Plan, including the following:
1) Department responsibility for Policy implementation
a. County employee training
b. Provision of technical assistance to ensure high quality and consistent language access services
c. Community education regarding Policy
2) Policy accountability and evaluation
Staff will use this direction to prioritize strategies, fiscal impacts, and to finalize the Language Access Plan and Policy for your Board’s review and approval in May 2024.
Strategic Plan:
This item directly supports the County’s Five-year Strategic Plan and is aligned with the following pillar, goal, and objective.
Pillar: Racial Equity and Social Justice
Goal: Goal 4: Engage community members and stakeholder groups to develop priorities and to advance racial equity.
Objective: Objective 4: Develop and establish a language access policy for the County of Sonoma by end of 2021.
Racial Equity:
Was this item identified as an opportunity to apply the Racial Equity Toolkit?
No
A Racial Equity Impact Analysis will be completed for the Board’s review and approval with the final Policy and Plan.
Prior Board Actions:
• July 27, 2021, American Rescue Plan Act Funding Plan
• September 14, 2021: Approval to add a 1.0 FTE Bilingual Community Engagement Analyst through December 31, 2024, to support American Rescue Plan Act Funding Plan
• December 14, 2021, American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Update - Response, Implementation, and Community Funding Approach
• September 20, 2022, Professional Services Agreements for the Development of a Community Engagement Plan and a Language Access Plan and recommended Policy.
Fiscal Summary
Fiscal Summary
|
Expenditures |
FY23-24 Adopted |
FY24-25 Projected |
FY25-26 Projected |
|
Budgeted Expenses |
|
$334,176 |
$378,989 |
|
One-time Expenses |
|
$403,000 |
|
|
Total Expenditures |
|
$736,352 |
$378,989 |
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
|
|
General Fund/F |
|
$737,176 |
$378,989 |
|
State/Federal |
|
|
|
|
Fees/Other |
|
|
|
|
Use of Fund Balance |
|
|
|
|
General Fund Contingencies |
|
|
|
|
Total Sources |
|
$737,176 |
$378,989 |
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
Estimated Ongoing Expenses:
• Office of Equity projects $190,176 in FY24-25 for hiring a Language Access Coordinator to lead the implementation Plan and this would be an on-going expense.
• Centralized tracking of language access requests and related spending on those requests would be an additional on-going expense with an estimate of $48,000 in FY 24-25.
• Outreach with Community Based Organizations on the County Language Access Policy and how residents can obtain language access is estimated at an annual expense at $96,000.
Estimated One-time Expenses:
• Initial start-up costs for the Language Access Coordinator are $20,000.
• Analysis of existing Blanket Purchase Order contracts and quality metrics of Language Service Providers would be a one-time expense of $48,000.
• Creation of County telephone menus with language identification module; one-time cost of $191,000 dependent on the scope of telephone contracts and the number of agencies that require this.
• Creation of in-language videos on key topics for residents without literacy; one-time cost of $96,000 and periodic updates with costs to be determined.
Other on-going costs to be determined:
• Professional interpretation through language service companies in other languages besides Spanish - cost dependent on the contracts with those entities.
• Sight translation and document assistance for understanding and completing English forms - costs dependent on the level of demand for specific languages and documents.
• Translation of vital documents in other languages - costs dependent on the level of demand for specific languages and documents.
|
Staffing Impacts: 1 FTE |
|
|
|
|
Position Title (Payroll Classification) |
Monthly Salary Range (A-I Step) |
Additions (Number) |
Deletions (Number) |
|
|
|
|
|
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
The Office of Equity will be requesting as part of the FY 24/25 Budget Hearings an on-going Program, Planning and Evaluation Analyst to be the Language Access Coordinator and facilitate implementation of the County’s Language Access Plan and Policy. This task improves the County’s internal capacity to Achieve Goal 4, Objective 4 of the Racial Equity and Social Justice (RESJ) Pillar of the County’s Strategic Plan which is to develop and establish a language access policy for the County of Sonoma by end of 2021.
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
See above
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
See above
Attachments:
1. Summary Report
2. Draft Language Access Policy
3. Language Access Plan Workshop findings Recommendations and Strategies PowerPoint Presentation
4. County Demographic Analysis Report
5. Comparative Jurisdictions Report
6. Draft Language Access Plan
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
N/A