Human Rights Annual Impact Report 2020-2021

Language Access

Language Access Plan (LAP)

In accordance with this commitment, the LAP program was created to provide meaningful access to City services, programs, information and activities regardless of an individual’s English proficiency. It ensures the City meets requirements under Title VI of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964. This year the Greensboro Speaks program taught 13 City employees basic Spanish and cultural humility training. The students met with community advocates and experts, including a local business owner who does not speak English, an immigration attorney, and refugees who are raising their families here and supporting immigrant integration. A newly-developed intermediate course focuses solely on Spanish, and an advanced course, taught in Spanish, will focus on leadership skills and a study of language service policies and practices. After a training that covered the refugee placement process and all that refugees

endure to enter the country, City staff were inspired to collect household items to donate to local refugee placement agencies. The items went to a family of new arrivals. Greensboro has been a refugee resettlement community since the early 1980’s. The success of our refugee families is dependent on community support. We are so thankful to work with compassionate staff who invest in their community. LAP also tested more than 30 City employees for bilingual language proficiency, trained staff on interpretation and translation, and identified a team of qualified staff who can manage small translation projects. The LAP helped create a much-needed nationwide Municipal Language Access Network which has provided training and guidance for other cities across the country.

2,631

NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS HELPED USING INTERPRETATION

• includes 38 languages • Spanish was the most requested language at 55%, followed by Swahili and Arabic

332

RESIDENTS PARTICIPATED IN PUBLIC MEETINGS FOCUSING ON LANGUAGE ACCESS

• including weekly COVID-19 resource accessibility meetings

110

STAFF PARTICIPATED IN LANGUAGE ACCESS TRAINING

8