# Presentation: 563103

## Providing Language Access to Persons with Limited English Proficiency and Low Literacy

**Region VI Civil Rights Colloquium**
**March 29, 2006 **

## Background Information 

## Who is a limited English proficient individual?

- Individuals who do not speak English as their primary language and who have a limited ability to read, write, speak, or understand English can be limited English proficient.
- Households where no one over age 14 speaks English well are linguistically isolated.

## The LEP Population in the United States 

- More than 10 million people in the United States reported to the 2000 Census that they do not Speak English at all or do not speak English well.
- The number of persons who do not speak English well or not at all grew by 65% from 1990 to 2000.
- The most common languages other than English are Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean.
- Over 11% of LEP persons aged 16 years and over reported taking transit to work, compared with about 4% of English speakers.

## The LEP Population in the United States in 2000 

**Notes:**
Black areas are counties where 20,000 to 1,400,000 persons are LEP (69 counties are in this category)
Grey areas are counties where 1,000 to 20,000 persons are LEP (547 counties are in this category)

## Areas with Growing LEP Populations 

**Notes:**

Most states either have high existing LEP populations or growing LEP populations-this is not just an issue for New York and Los Angeles.
High LEP populations in Texas and New Mexico and growing populations in Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Black areas are counties where the % increase in the LEP population is 1,0000 to 16,400 percent (92 counties are in this category) 
Grey areas are counties where the percentage increase is 200 to 1000 percent (633 counties are in this category)

## What constitutes low-literacy?

- Literacy is “an individual’s ability to read, write, and speak English and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society, to achieve one’s goals and develop one’s knowledge and potential.” (The National Literacy Act).
- U.S. Department of Education created scales for prose literacy, document literacy, and quantitative literacy and defined five levels of literacy, with level 1 reflecting the lowest skills.
- The National Adult Literacy Survey found that 21% of adults had level 1 literacy skills and 27% of adults had level 2 literacy skills.

## The Low-Literacy Population in the United States

- This map displays the percentage of the population in each state with level 1 literacy

**Notes:**
In much of the deep south and Texas and California also in New York and New Jersey 20 to 30% of the population have no more than level 1 literacy skills. 

## Low-Literacy Population By County 

**Notes:**
The Red areas show counties where 30% or more of the population has literacy skills at level 1. At the very local level, there may not be great data on who is considered low-literate, but there is a lot of poverty data at the local level and there is an association between low-literacy and low-income 

## LEP Guidance 

## Executive Order 13166

- Each Federal agency shall examine the services it provides and develop and implement a system by which LEP persons can meaningfully access those services.

**Notes:**
Executive Order signed by President Clinton in 2000 and is still in force.

## DOT LEP Guidance 

- What steps a recipient takes to provide “meaningful access” depends on:
- 1. The number and proportion of LEP persons in a recipient’s area.
- 2. The frequency of contact between LEP person and the recipient’s services.
- 3. The importance of the service provided to the recipient.
- 4. The resources available to the recipient and costs.

**Notes:**
DOT guidance was issued in 2001 and revised and reissued in December 2005
This framework suggests a balance between ensuring meaningful access to critical services while not imposing undue burdens on recipients. 
#1. The greater the number and proportion of LEP individuals the greater the need. 
#2. The greater the frequency of contact, the greater the recipient obligation. LEP persons more likely to come into contact with transit services than members of the general public.
#3 Generally transit is more important to LEP  persons, who are less likely to have alternative transportation options.
After applying this framework, recipients can conclude that different language assistance measures are appropriate for different types of activities.

## Ways to reduce the costs of providing language assistance

- Training bilingual staff to serve as interpreters or translators.
- Using telephone interpretation services
- Using qualified community  volunteers to provide interpretive services.
- Using qualified translators and interpreters to make sure documents don’t need to be corrected later.

## Providing Language Assistance also has benefits 

- Based upon our site visits, costs for existing language access activities were generally not seen as burdensome. One of the reasons for this is  that Many agencies believe that providing services to LEP populations makes sound business sense. Such agencies recognize that LEP populations represent a significant portion of both their current and potential ridership. Thus, making services accessible to LEP persons could increase ridership.”
- --U.S. Government Accountability Office Report, “Better Dissemination and Oversight of DOT’s Guidance Could Lead to Improved Access for Limited-English Proficient Populations.”

**Notes:**
Half of the agencies surveyed by GAO spent between 10,000 and 30,000 on language services. Half spent under $5000 and half spent more than $100,000. 

## Guidance on Oral Language Services 

- Recipients should consider the competency of the interpreters.
- When interpretation is needed, it should be provided in a timely manner to be effective.
- Recipients should determine how to make best use of bilingual staff,
- Contracting with interpreters is effective when there is no regular need for a particular language skill.
- Also consider using telephone interpreter services.

**Notes:**
Competency means being able to interpret in and out of English and have knowledge of specialized terms and concepts, understand and adhere to their role as interpreters and not counselors or advocates,
Using friends or family of LEP persons may be appropriate in some cases but may not be appropriate in other cases. 

## Guidance on Written Language Services

- Translate vital written materials
- The number of languages into which a document should be translated depends on the four factor analysis.

**Notes:**
Vital documents directly affect whether an LEP person has access to the services provided. Examples--paratransit application, bus or rail schedules, emerguency transportation information, notices advising LEP persons of free language assistance, 

## The Elements of an Effective Implementation Plan on Language Assistance 

- 1. Conducting a needs assessment.
- 2. Providing language assistance measures
- 3. Training staff
- 4. Providing notice to LEP persons
- 5. Monitoring and updating the plan

**Notes:**
#1. Look at past records, also use census information, information from the school system and community organizations.
#2. Develop a plan for the types of language services available, how to respond to LEP callers, written communication,  in-person contact , how to ensure competency of translators and intepreters,
#3. Staff having contact with the public should be trained to work with interpreters
#4. Notify LEP persons that language assistance is available by working with community organizations, in foreign language papers, or radio, or providing information through the school system.
#5 Consider whether changes in demographics would require updates to the plan 

## Current Practices (From the New Jersey Department of Transportation Report and the GAO Report) 

**Notes:**
So, that’s our guidance. What is actually happening in the area of language assistance? 
Two good sources of information. In 2004, the New Jersey Department of Transportation published a report called “Mobility Information Needs of Limited English Proficiency Travelers in New Jersey” which contained a survey of the language assistance practices of transit providers in 30 metropolitan regions with high LEP populations. New Jersey Department of Transportation also convened 10 focus groups of LEP persons in New Jersey.
In November, 2005, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published its report, on LEP. The GAO visited 20 transit agencies and seven metropolitan planning organizations and also met with advocacy groups serving LEP persons in these communities. 

## What language assistance is currently being provided? 

- The most popular strategy is publishing timetables and route maps in languages other than English
- Next most popular strategy is multilingual phone lines and use of multi-lingual staff in information booths.
- Agencies also use pictograms and mult-language announcements.
- 		--New Jersey Department of 	Transportation Report

## Language services being provided (from the GAO Report)

## Examples of Language Assistance 

## Examples of Language Assistance 

## Examples of Language Assistance 

## Input from the LEP Community—New Jersey Transit Focus Groups  

- Station announcements and ticket machine instructions are difficult to understand.
- People experienced difficulty trying to get oral information from bus drivers or train station crews.
- Driver sensitivity and training is a problem.
- Lack of transit service to places where LEP persons wanted to go was a problem.

**Notes:**
NJ Transit held 10 focus groups of LEP persons in 2004
Example: Growth of Arabic communities in Jersey City, NJ and Patterson, NJ, but no transit connecting the two communities. 

## Input from the LEP community—the GAO Report 

- More bi-lingual bus drivers are needed.
- Translated web sites are not particularly useful.
- Outreach and public involvement to LEP persons was not sufficient.
- People were unaware of the existence of language access measures.

## Providing Access to Services for People with Low-Literacy 

- Meaningful access should extend to people who cannot read and understand what is read.
- There is an association between LEP, low-income, and low-literacy.

**Notes:**
Having low literacy skills often relegates a person to low wage jobs.
So outreach to low-literacy communities should help recipients fufilill their obligations under the Executive Order on Environmental Justice and LEP as well as the Title VI obligations, to the extent that low-lierate persons are also minority persons. 

## Engaging Low-Literacy and LEP Populations in transportation decision making 

- Hold public meetings in accessible locations and at accessible times.
- Provide food at public meetings.
- Provide notice through radio announcements.
- Look for clues that people cannot read English or another language
- Give people the opportunity to provide verbal comments
- Use maps and diagrams

**Notes:**
Low-literate persons have limited access to information online and in newspapers and also often have limited personal transportation and are often working two jobs or are working night shifts. 
Clues include, having someone else sign them in, or not signing in a sheet, claiming that they left their glasses at home when offered the opportunity to read a document

## Engaging Low-Literacy and LEP Populations in transportation decision making

- Attend local community meetings and events.
- Train local residents to do community outreach.
- Use staff that reflects others in the community.
- Work with community leaders and insiders.

**Notes:**
Rather than asking people to come to your meeting, do outreach into the community. The report notes that people felt intimidated about meeting at a government building, or 

## Resources 

- The DOT LEP Guidance can be found at the FTA Title VI Website, _[www.fta.dot.gov](http://www.fta.dot.gov/)_ (click on the link to “civil rights/accessibility).
- New Jersey Department of Transportation Report at _[www.transportation.njit.edu/nctip/final_report/LEP.htm](http://www.transportation.njit.edu/nctip/final_report/LEP.htm)_
- Government Accountability Report at _[www.gao.gov](http://www.gao.gov/)_
- Federal Highway Administration Report at _[www.fhwa.dot.gov/hep/lowlim3.htm](http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hep/lowlim3.htm)_
- Or contact the FTA Office of Civil Rights (202) 366-4018