Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Emma Gonzalez, Office of Community Affairs Manager
Subject: Resolution adopting Telephone Interpretation Pilot Project
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt a resolution waiving the request for proposals process and authorizing an agreement with Certified Languages International to provide telephone interpretation services to San Mateo County departments in support of the Language Access Policy.
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BACKGROUND:
In March of 2017, the Board of Supervisors formed an ad-hoc committee to study the County's need for a departmental Language Access Policy. This committee researched existing national and state law, conducted a Countywide assessment of existing language services, and identified existing gaps in language access services.
Based on feedback from all County departments and with input and review from departments with existing, robust language access policies, the committee drafted a Countywide Language Access Policy with three main components: (1) universal signage and wayfinding; (2) spoken interpretation; and (3) written translation. In June of 2017, the Board unanimously adopted this Language Access Policy.
Since that time, the committee has obtained input from and worked with various departments to study and analyze current language access services. Based on input from County departments and staff, the Office of Community Affairs recommends implementing a Telephone Interpretation Pilot Project, which will provisionally fund all County Departments currently without interpretation services for one year under a consolidated contract. This will allow each department to accurately gauge the necessity of interpretation services and utilize services that have been unavailable until now-but which have been identified as needed.
DISCUSSION:
According to the 2009-2013 U.S. Census Data, nearly half of San Mateo County residents (46%) speak a languag...
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