LOOKING BACK
Reflecting on Previous Goals
Part of OCEIA’s ongoing mission is to help City departments improve the quality of their language
services. In the past year, OCEIA has made significant strides in the goals identified in the 2018 LAO
Summary Report, including the following priorities:
Improve data collection mechanisms and
update guidelines for annual reports
OCEIA staff met with 46 out of the 50 City departments required to file LAO
reports. These consultations resulted in greater understanding of liaison
duties, improved data collection mechanisms, concrete goal-setting with
clear pathways to action, and an increased demand for trainings by OCEIA.
Create a language access advisory committee
In consultation with OCEIA, the Department of Elections formed a Language
Access Advisory Committee (LAAC) to improve the quality of its language
services. In particular, the LAAC played a key role in the implementation of
and community education around Non-Citizen Registration and Voting
(Proposition N, November, 2016).
Create a community language bank
In the last year, OCEIA hired staff to focus on this priority. OCEIA plans to
launch a pilot program in the spring of 2019 to recruit and train bilingual
community members to provide interpretation services to City departments
and partnering nonprofit agencies.
5