New Report Maps How Language Access Measures Are Implemented in State and Local Contexts

WASHINGTON, DC — Amid uncertainty about the extent to which federal agencies will continue providing information and services in languages other than English in their programs given actions taken by the Trump administration, the provision of language access by state and local governments has taken on even more importance.

Language access does not just bring benefits for those with limited proficiency in English. It also impacts how effectively and efficiently government programs meet their mission to provide services and communications to the public. While a growing number of states, counties and cities have developed more organized approaches to providing language access over the past two decades, far less is known about how well these efforts have been implemented.

A new report from the Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy offers one of the first in-depth examinations of how state and local language access measures are implemented. The report draws on interviews with staff managing language access programs in state and local governments to explore how they go about improving access to public services and information for the nation’s more than 27 million residents who have limited proficiency in English.

“Ultimately, there is no one-size-fits-all approach for implementing language access,” analysts Jacob Hofstetter and Alexis Fintland write. “There are, however, abundant lessons that state and local governments and agencies can learn from each other and apply to their own contexts, needs and capacities.”

The report, Behind the Scenes: Mapping How State and Local Governments Implement Language Access Measures, offers a number of top findings, including:

• Effective behind-the-scenes administrative processes are essential for ensuring timely and high-quality language assistance. These include developing and integrating vendor contracts (for use of interpreters and translation of written documents) for government programs and funding the use of language services contracts and other costs related to language access. Disseminating guidance, tools and training for frontline staff and agency leadership are also often key components of these efforts, with the aim of making it easier for these personnel to provide language assistance.
• Some governments and agencies explore the centralization of vendor contracts for language services as well as funding for language access. In centralized approaches, a single office or entity controls the pot of funding available for language access and/or the contracts for language services vendors such as interpreting and translation. Centralization brings benefits including increased efficiency and improved monitoring of agency language access efforts, but it can also reduce flexibility.
• Monitoring the efforts of agencies, individual programs and their staff is a key component of ensuring compliance with efforts to expand language access. In interviews, government and agency staff described using a number of relevant tools to monitor and promote accountability, such as annual reporting mechanisms, complaint procedures for the public and secret shoppers.
• Intangible factors matter to the implementation of language access programs. Examples include support from government and agency leadership, organizational culture and the influence of communities and advocates. Though generally outside the control of government staff working on language access, these factors can significantly impact efforts to develop, operationalize and sustain language access programs.

Read the report here: www.migrationpolicy.org/research/state-local-governments-implement-language-access.

This new research is a bookend to an earlier report from the National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy that examined key elements of language access laws and policies across 40 states and localities.

For a recent look at how the executive order declaring English the official language of the United States could affect language access efforts in federally funded programs, click here.

For all of the Center’s work on language access, visit: www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/language-access-translation-and-interpretation-policies-and-practices.