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LEP Plan - Appendix A: Bilingual Resources Language Needs

Albuquerque Spanish and Zuni, and other languages (albeit infrequently)
Atlanta Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese.

The Atlanta District Office has five bi-lingual (Spanish-speaking) investigators in the Atlanta District Office, and one bilingual (Spanish-speaking) investigator in the Savannah Local Office. District-wide, Atlanta has adequate language capabilities to provide services to the Latino Community. The District has reached out to Asian communities and friends of those persons listed in CBO Directory who will provide services free of charge.
Baltimore Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Russian, Greek, and French
Birmingham Telephone - The Birmingham District and Jackson Area Offices need access to a phone system which will give a menu option for information in Spanish. Staffing - The Birmingham District Office has two bilingual investigators; however, the Jackson Area Office relies primarily of assistance from staff of other federal agencies in the immediate vicinity of the Jackson Area Office for assistance in interpreting. Mediation - The District office currently has to rely on the services of bilingual investigators for interpretive services in the event of mediation. The area office relies on staff of other federal agencies in the event of mediation. The district would benefit from a bilingual mediator in the district and area offices. Forms - The Form 283 is currently unavailable in other languages. Translation to Spanish would meet current needs.
Charlotte Spanish-speaking translators throughout the District. The Charlotte District is not currently able to satisfy these needs internally with the placement of bilingual staff in all offices within the district. The District has Spanish-speaking staff located in the Raleigh Area Office and the Greenville Local Office; these individuals are currently servicing the entire District to the extent possible. With Spanish-speaking persons constituting the District's dominant English second language population, contract services for interpreters are relied upon to fill this void when and where it exists within the District.

On very rare occasions, the District has need for interpreters in other languages and this need is also met through contract services. The District most frequently contracts for services through the Carolina Interpreting and Consulting Service. Additionally, the Program Analyst is a member of The International House, a group which maintains a roster of interpreters for many languages.
Chicago Chicago does not have any outstanding language needs at this time; able to cover needs through the hiring of investigators and attorneys in past fiscal years. In addition, Chicago is participating in the Chicago Federal Executive Board's "language bank." The purpose of the language bank is to enable federal agencies to share the language expertise of their employees on a temporary, as needed basis. Language bank volunteers are available to be contacted during working hours in the event an agency needs to communicate quickly with an LEP individual. (Volunteers are not intended to replace employees or to be used as a substitute for hiring full or part-time permanent employees where there are on-going needs in particular languages.)
Cleveland The largest populations of Hispanic/Latino persons are located in Cleveland, Toledo, Lorain and Columbus. Due to the dedication and assistance of the CLDO Hispanic staff, the District is working to meet the needs of the Spanish-speaking populations in Ohio, especially in the Greater Cleveland and Lorain areas.

In addition to Spanish, at CLDO there is a staff member who speaks French, another speaks basic German, and one who speaks Tagalog fluently.

The largest populations of Asians are concentrated in the Columbus and Cleveland MSAs, with a large population also located in the Cincinnati MSA and the Akron MSA. There is a large population of Arab Americans in Cleveland, Columbus and Dayton. There is a growing population of Russian and Ukrainian immigrants in the Cleveland area.
Dallas U.S. Census 2000 data of languages spoken by persons 18 and older for the State of Texas counties in the jurisdiction of the Dallas District Office shows that there are some 890,781 residents who only speak Spanish. This same data show that there are 109,155 residents who only speak such Asian dialects as Vietnamese (35,309), Chinese (26,253), Korean (16,153), Laotian (5,892), Japanese (5,215), Cambodian (3,385), Thai (3,166), Hmong (99) and other unspecified Asian dialects (13,683).

The above cited statistical data show that Spanish is the major bilingual language need for the Dallas District Office. An array of Asian dialects comprise the second bilingual language group that the District Office will have to address via internal office staff bilingual skills or depend on known external community wide language resources.

Census data for Oklahoma show that there are three major language groups that the Area office will have to address in order to make it possible for such persons to have access to filing charges of employment discrimination with EEOC. The major language group is Spanish in that some 138,060 residents only speak Spanish. The second language need group is Asian (29,401), which includes such dialects as Vietnamese (11,332), Chinese (6,413), Korean (3,948), Japanese (2,546), Laotian (1,046), Thai (982) and other unspecified Asian languages (3,134). The third bilingual language need is Native American at a total count of 19,434. This includes 447 residents who speak only Navajo and 18,987 who speak only other unspecified Native American languages.
Denver The major language need in the District is Spanish. Denver currently has eight Investigators, two mediators, two attorneys, two administrative judges, the District Director, the District Director's secretary, and the Deputy District Director who are fluent in Spanish. The District also has one employee who can converse in Korean and one employee who can converse in Vietnamese. Interpreters for other languages are required through contractors.
Detroit Chinese, Spanish and Arabic
Houston The Houston District Office bilingual staff speak several languages, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Tagalog (Filipino), Vietnamese, French and German, and have been able to service those individuals who are either monolingual or speak limited English. Additionally, our students interns speak various languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Gujarati, and Hindi. The major language needs in the District are Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese and Cambodian. There have been a few isolated needs for other languages such as French. For sign language interpreters, we contract the services from Sign Shares.
Indianapolis The INDO has three bilingual Investigators, an Office Automation Assistant and a Supervisor who can assist speakers of Spanish. We have not had a need to provide language assistance in any other language.
Los Angeles Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Armenian, Cantonese, Cambodian, Mandarin, Tagalog (Filipino), Arabic, Japanese, Persian (Farsi), Russian, Thai, Lao, and Urdu.

The above list reflects languages spoken in order of population size in the Greater Los Angeles Metropolitan Area. Languages listed 1-8 above have substantially higher population groups than the remaining seven languages.
Memphis Spanish
Miami Spanish and French/Creole
Milwaukee Spanish, Hmong, Laotian, Vietnamese, Somali
New Orleans Spanish, Vietnamese. The current number of bilingual personnel on staff is five. There are five personnel who are bilingual in Spanish. Another staff member speaks Tamil, Hindi, and Malayalam.
New York The bi-lingual staff (fluent in Spanish, Italian, Yiddish, Cantonese, French) of the office has been able to service those individuals who are either monolingual or speak limited English. However, with the recent influx of new immigrants we anticipate the need to service individuals who speak Russian, French Creole and Vietnamese. To this end, the NYDO has found that InterpreTalk will provide interpreter services for 170 languages.
Philadelphia Based on current demographic information, provided below is a listing of the Philadelphia District's language needs. First of all, the Philadelphia District services a broad range of customers whose language needs vary from District to Area Office. The language needs were: English, French, Greek, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and Yugoslavian to name a few. In particular, the Philadelphia District services an approximately 10 percent non-English speaking customer base. The Philadelphia Office, in particular, services approximately 4% non-English speaking population. Two percent of this is Hispanic. Therefore, to assist the language needs of the non-English speaking Hispanic customer base, the Philadelphia Office has nine employees who speak Spanish as well as English.

In terms of population, the Newark Area Office services approximately 7-10 percent non-English speaking customer base which includes: Asians, Haitians, Greeks, Italians, and Spanish. However, approximately 90% of the Newark's bilingual customers speak English. To assist the language needs of the other 10 % non-English speaking Hispanics, the Newark Area Office has four employees who are fluent in Spanish as well as English. The Newark Office also has staff that speak Italian, Greek, French, Tagalog, Portuguese and Hebrew as well as English.

The Pittsburgh Area Office services less than 5% of customers who do not speak English. These customers primarily include: Asian, Italian, Russian, and Yugoslavian.

Overall, the Philadelphia District's Language needs are met. However, if an interpreter is needed for any of the District's three offices, Community Based Organization's (CBO's) on Attachment III will be utilized whenever feasible.
Phoenix The dominant need in the District is Spanish. Currently we have 15 Spanish speaking staff and 1 staff fluent in Spanish and Portuguese. We continue to have a need for additional investigators with Spanish bi-lingual capability.
San Antonio Spanish
San Francisco Spanish, Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin dialects), Vietnamese, Tagalog, Hmong, Laotian, Khmer, Mien, Cambodian, Mixtecos (Native Mexican dialect) , Korean, Arabic, Yemeni, Farsi, Hindi
Seattle Spanish, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Chinese (Mandarin), Japanese, Russian
St. Louis Spanish - predominantly in Western Missouri and Kansas; Vietnamese - predominantly in St. Louis area.
Washington Spanish and Vietnamese. Based on demographic information, a large Hispanic population resides within our jurisdiction. The Washington Field Office's jurisdiction also includes an Asian population, primarily Vietnamese.