Transcripts For SFGTV BOS 20240703

All of you. My name is george rivas. I am the director of the office of Civic Engagement and immigrant affairs, i am joined by my colleague chloe noonan, who is our policy and engagement officer, who oversees our Language Access efforts at oca. I am looking forward to sharing. I am looking forward to sharing more Background Information about our office and then chloe will share more background on the lao report from 2024, and will walk us through the contents of that report as well, ill take next slide. I will take a moment to share some background about our office. The office of Civic Engagement and World Affairs was founded in 2 in 2009, at which time it was designated to oversee implementation of the equal access to Services Ordinance and with time, as you all know now, its become the Language Access ordinance. Today, eoc has a policy compliance, direct services and grant making City Department. Our mission is to promote inclusive policies and foster immigrant assistance programs that lead to full civic and economic and linguistic integration for the benefit of the public, and as a reminder to all of us. Oca moves our Mission Forward in a few, in a few ways through Civic Engagement. For example, in our Civic Engagement work, we partner very closely with immigrant Rights Commission, where we hear directly from the public and then advise the city leadership on immigrant matters. We also partner very closely with local groups to provide education to immigrant parents who are voting in the School District. Elections to know their rights, and normally are our local lead for the census, for community safety. We our Community Ambassador program, for example, we its a Workforce Development program where we partner provide a safety presence and engage residents with referrals and connections to Public Services and predominantly immigrant, multilingual neighborhoods. Through grant making. We provide grants to further Language Access in our communities and create spaces for belonging for our immigrants. We also provide grants to provide additional affirmative Legal Support to our immigrants. Integrated immigrant services, where we provide affirmative services for immigrants such as our pathways to citizenship program, whos been around for ten years. We also provide support to Daca Recipients for them to renew their applications. We also have a dream Fellowship Program where we partner very closely with our local organizations and place fellows to gain professional experience regardless of status and of course, Language Access, the Language Access unit is a small team of interpreters and translators that provide Language Services for important Public Meetings and supplement some departments Language Access needs. We manage citywide contracts for Language Services, whether its through vendors. We also provide Technical Assistance to city agencies and conduct annual Compliance Training to city staff. The unit also follows up on Language Access complaints that are made by our residents, and ensure that theres a summary provided to the immigrant Rights Commission on a quarterly basis. And we also monitor the departments compliance with the Language Access ordinance and submit a compliance summary report to the city each year, which which is a main piece of our presentation today. And with that, i will pass the mic over to my colleague chloe noonan. Our policy and Civic Engagement officer, to present the 2024 Language Access summary report. Thank you. Director rivas. Hello, supervisors. Before discussing the Language Access ordinance in greater detail, i want to take a moment to talk about some frequently used terms to help ensure that we have shared language in the discussion. When we say lao, were referring to the Language Access ordinance, administrative code 91, which directs city agencies to ensure that Public Services and information are accessible to all people, regardless of language ability. The acronym lep refers to limited english proficient, a term used to refer to people who do not read, write, speak, or understand english, or for whom english is not a primary language. We often refer to San Franciscos required language as also described sometimes as threshold languages. The current law requires City Departments to provide Language Access services in chinese, spanish, and filipino, and languages are eligible for certification by oca once they reach a population threshold of 10,000 lep residents. This slide has some background about the history of the Language Access ordinance. The ordinance was first adopted as the equal access to Services Ordinance in 2001. Went through a couple of rounds of amendments in 2009 and 2015, which, after several years of implementation work, brings us here today to discuss current city compliance and additional amendments that aim to further strengthen the lao. Here you can see an overview of City Department responsibilities and oca responsibilities under the current Language Access ordinance. One of oshas responsibilities is to monitor and report compliance to the immigrant Rights Commission and the board of supervisors, which includes developing and publishing the annual Language Access compliance summary report. This is the context in which we present and discuss the 2024 Compliance Report today. Under the current lao public facing, City Departments must collect data about their language, access activities and submit an annual Compliance Report to oca by october 1st. And we have. Here are just a quick preview of the types of information that departments include in their Compliance Reports, which ill discuss more deeply in a couple more slides. Here are the link and front cover for the 2024 Language Access compliance summary report. The report is publicly available on oshas website listed here, though well do an overview of the report today. I encourage you all to take a look at the report afterwards. Whenever you have time. On the topic of population data, the report contains the snapshot of San Francisco and supervisorial district data. This section includes some citywide data points as well as lep population data for supervisorial districts. The source of this data is the census bureaus 2018 to 2022 five Year American community survey. As you can see, 1 in 3 San Francisco residents is an immigrant and 18. 9 of residents identify as lep. On the right side of the page, we have some supervisorial district data points available which show total population and lep population across districts and the district with the highest percentage of lep residents is district 11, at 35. Lep population. Here you can see a copy of the language diversity dashboards that oca publishes online each year, along with the compliance summary report. The dashboards show citywide data and can also be broken down by individual supervisorial districts. These numbers reflect both total population language population and lep population within languages, and these dashboards are Available Online at the website listed here. To take a moment to briefly talk about some of the key data points that departments are asked to report about, i can speak first to Data Collection method. The current Language Access ordinance allows for three different types of Data Collection that departments can use to track their interactions with lep. Members of the public. This includes the intake method. The survey method, or telephonic interpretation records. Oca usually recommends the intake method, as this is the most accurate way to capture and record the data every year. Departments also have to report the number of total lep client interactions their department had with members of the public. Broken down by language, we also ask departments to report on the total number of Materials Department departments translated during the fiscal year. They also report on inperson interpretations conducted and telephonic interpretations conducted on the topic of bilingual staff. Departments also share their total numbers of bilingual staff, including both total staff and total certified bilingual staff. And on the topic of budgets, departments are also asked to include information about how much they spent on Language Access services during the fiscal year, specifically, departments are asked to report about compensatory pay for bilingual staff, excluding regular salaries, money spent on vendors that provided telephonic Interpretation Services, document translation and on site Interpretation Services, money spent on other costs associated with providing Language Access services such as grants or special programs, and the total sum spent by a department on Language Access services during the fiscal year. This years data showed encouraging upward trends across multiple data measures. This included increases in use of the intake method of Data Collection, total lep client interactions, translated materials, and inperson interpretations. The data also showed decreases on a few measures compared to the last fiscal year. This included decreases in telephonic interpretations, decreases in bilingual staff citywide, and decreases in Language Services budgets. There may be a few factors impacting the decrease in telephonic interpretations. For example, more Department Services and information transitioned to being more accessible online during the pandemic. Continued implementation of the citys digital accessibility and inclusion standard has also increased the amount of information and services that Community Members can access digitally. On the topic of bilingual staff, there could be a range of factors potentially impacting this number, such as staffing shortages in the city overall, inadequate recruitment, hiring and retention practices. Staff retirement may be a factor, and we included increasing bilingual staffing as one of oshas recommendations in the report this year. The decrease in Language Services budgets may also be due to a couple of factors. To pause for a moment and share some background about this data point. Department Language Services budgets can be a helpful way to get a sense of how much departments are spending and investing in Language Access over time. That said, there are a lot of factors that can impact this data point, which is important to consider when putting the data into context. For example, a department that relies heavily on bilingual staff to address language needs will likely spend less than a department that relies heavily on vendors to address those needs. Its not necessarily an indicator on its own of whether a department is or isnt, prioritizing Language Access and looking at the whys really important in looking at the departments with the biggest decreases this year, our data analysts determined the main driver of the decreases was due to operational adjustments. So one example of this we learned that if the department of Public Health has been working to streamline their processes into a newly created department of interpreter services, which will consolidate many aspects of their Language Services activities, they also had an issue where they had to change telephonic interpretation. Vendors during the fiscal year. Another department that showed less spending this year was the San Francisco port. Their data showed that their interactions with the public saw a rather steep decline during the pandemic, and is just now slowly starting to build up again. One brief anecdote is that the port actually recently held an inperson industry job fair for youth, and worked with oca to make sure that lep students attending the event would have access to interpretation at the workshop. And the feedback ive heard is that it was really engaging and successful event for lep attendees. A third example of operational adjustment came from the department of elections. So the amount of money election spends on Language Access each year varies depending on the number of elections that took place, and this can lead to spending fluctuations. For example, when elections is conducting outreach and education for elections one year and then one election the next year. Next slide please. Here are the recommendations that oca included in our Compliance Report this year on the topic of Language Access capacity building, we recommend that departments increase their department specific Language Access, instruction and training for public facing city staff, and that includes training for Public Contact staff on department specific protocols for arranging interpretation and Translation Services. On the topic of resource planning, we recommended that departments hire and retain more bilingual staff to ensure sufficient internal resources for addressing the needs of lep Community Members served by City Departments, and we also recommended exploration of future opportunities to supplement Language Access activities with new tools and emerging technologies. On the topic of Language Services budgets, we recommended that departments increase their Language Services budgets and support for Community Partners serving lep individuals. As we know that this recommendation comes during a constrained budget season and in the context of the current city economic climate, it will be important for departments to be intentional in partnering with city suppliers and Community Partners to bolster capacity for serving lep individuals when delivering Department Information and services. And lastly, on the topic of Data Collection and analysis, we recommended continued improvement of current compliance Data Collection protocols. Tracking Language Access activities consists ohlone and refinement of multiple data sources for a more diverse Language Access data landscape. Ill now hand the mic back to director rivas to talk about current capacity at oshas Language Access unit. Thank you chloe. In addition to the compliance compliance summary report that were hearing that were hearing today, and also the amendments to the Language Access ordinance that were being discussed, we were asked to present a brief summary of what the needs will be at oca to successfully implement the amendments and potentially the trailing resolution that will come with more programmatic direction for oca. Here is a quick org chart of the Language Access services unit. Theres seven ftes currently assigned to this unit. Our policy and Civic Engagement officer oversees the Language Services supervisor and our languages, our Language Access data and research specialists. Role this also includes three Language Services specialists, one per current required language and a Language Access assistant. The roles are supervised by the Language Service Language Services supervisor. Next slide. The law amendments and the proposed resolution will expand and deepen the units responsibilities and activities. For example, implementing the amendments would require more frequent, individualized, customized training and Technical Assistance provided to department staff. The amendments would also result in changes related to Language Access complaints, resulting in additional communicative and administrative tasks for processing the processing and reporting. Based on the changes proposed, here are the resources that oca would need in order to ensure successful implementation. This requires upgrading two existing positions and adding two new positions. Upgrade in 1823. Role to a manager. One classification would be reflective of the increased requirement of this role, including managing a larger team with more responsibilities, increase team activities. Increase engagement with policymakers, Language Access, Community Organizations. We anticipate that the amendments will result in Additional Data analysis responsibilities for oca, for example, and working more closely with departments on recommending programmatic and operational changes in response to their compliance data. The role will also have additional responsibilities related to leading complaint investigations, upgrading the 1840 role to an 1824 classification would reflect that increased requirements for the role. On the topic of new positions, we want to see the addition, the addition, the addition of a Training Officer on Language Access unit through our team does provide some training to departments throughout the year. We anticipate more frequent and customized training would be needed with the passage of the amendments and the proposed resolution, and having a role specifically, especially dedicated to focusing on this would help ensure successful implementation. This would also support the complaint investigation activities. Lastly, the lao language threshold number is lowered if lowered and language becomes required, we would need to. We would need a new language specialist role to ensure oca can effectively support the departments integrating the new language into their Language Access activities. Adding 1842 role for a new language specialist would enable the Language Access unit to advise departments on language specific questions, develop written tools like style guides, and to supplement departmental Language Services with a directed rotation and translation capacity as allows. Were speaking to potentially vietnamese being added as a language. Again, these are the resource needs that we identified to date. Were working very closely with the Central Office of the city administrator and the mayors office, so theyre aware of the resource needs. This will wrap up my formal remarks for the presentation, and im going to invite the chair of the immigrant Rights Commission, celine kenleigh, to also provide some closing remarks. Thank you. Director, good morning, chair. Ronen. Supervisor walton, supervisor safai. Its an honor to be with you. Im celine kenleigh, the chair of the San Francisco immigrant Rights Commission. Im delighted to join our our partners, the office of Civic Engagement and immigrant affairs, as well as nsf and community for this mornings very important hearing, the immigrant Rights Commission has been a leader in Language Access, beginning with advocating for the first iteration of the Language Access ordinance in 2001 to ensure equal access to City Services for all san franciscans. Despite a strong local law, we continue to see cases where not everyone is able to access the information and services they needed. At the same time, we particularly saw this during the pandemic, when access to Important Information like where to get covid tests or vaccines, or how to apply for Business Loans or Financial Assistance had a real impact on Peoples Health and finances. And thats why we launched a three part strategy to improve Language Access in San Francisco. We held special hearings with Community Members to learn where the gaps are in the citys Language Access law and how it can be improved. We continue to meet with community. We continue to take testimony, and we continue to move forward with the recommendations that we hear. And they informed their will be informing a lot of the work of the commission in the coming year through our Strategic Planning process, we have partnered with the office of Civic Engagement and immigrant affairs and the Language Access network of San Francisco to launch a community Language Access survey to hear directly from over 2000 san franciscans in 11 languages about their experiences accessing services in their language and together with oca, we provided input to help inform the proposed amendments that are being introduced today. We have heard from Community Members about the importance of hiring and retaining bilingual staff who are culturally competent, and i want to underline culturally competent. It is a huge part of servicing our immigrant Community Using a Community Centered approach that takes into account the needs of all san franciscans, san franciscans, and ultimately ensuring that no one is left out. City departments must also be responsive when there is an influx of immigrants due to war, conflict or other crises. This is something we have discussed as a commission. As we have seen emerging language populations coming to San Francisco, it is essential that Language Services are available to all. We are pleased to join with city leaders in taking a step forward in improving Language Access and accountability. With the amendments being introduced today, we would like to thank supervisors walton and chen, city administrator chu, the office of Civic Engagement and immigrant affairs, and all of the Community Partners who have helped inform this process. The commission has been fighting for Language Justice since our founding over 25 years ago, and we look forward to continuing the work as an active partner with oca city leaders and Community Members to improve Language Access in San Francisco. Thank you. Thank you so much, director rivas. Miss noonan and chair kenleigh. And again, i want to thank, all the public for being here this afternoon. And i specifically do want to extend a thank you to all of our interpreters this morning. We have for cantonese, tinky wong, laura kwan, and spanish Angelica Perez and Carmen Saldana and filipino raymond perez. So i want to thank you all so much for making sure that all of our residents who want to participate in this hearing have that opportunity. I really feel that the Language Access report Compliance Report is very important. We got a chance to see a lot of information, particularly where most of our limited English Proficiency, residents reside. And i think that was one of the things that was most at least shocking to me in terms of what part of San Francisco we have the highest number. So i really want to appreciate this report. I do have a couple of questions, but i want to check to see if my colleagues have any questions before. Okay, to director rivas, just i have three questions. The first one, and i dont know if this is putting you on the spot, but what would you grade . Our City Departments overall in terms of compliance with with the lao . Thank you. Supervisor. Thats a very tough question. I think, as a city, we can always do better in terms of Language Access. I, i will not i will stay away from giving us a letter grade or a number grade, but i think this the introduction of the introduction of new amendments speaks to the need, and it speaks to the fact that there is recognition that we need to do better and we can keep our departments more accountable, and that we need to be working more closely with community to meet the need. So i think the fact that we have amendments and a resolution being discussed is speaks to the fact that we are not at an a plus. So, yeah, and i believe you did touch on this, but i do want to just make sure the resource needs that you demonstrated on one of the slides. Thats included in your proposed budget. That is not thats included in this conversation, not in the proposed budget, at this point. So we will be weve shared it with, city administrators office, our Central Office, as you know, we budget with with the city administrator. And we will also be sharing with the mayors office. Got it, thats all i have for now. Thank you so much. Thank you, so what i do want to do now is just speak a little bit about the amendments that we are going to be adding, to the lao through this legislation and just remind folks that last year, we introduced some initial amendments to improve the lao. And through working with community, with oca, our Language Access network, immigrants Rights Commission, and a lot of folks. Weve also included some additional amendments, because there are so many things that we want to do to make sure that were providing access and for all of our our residents in the city. So i do just want to state, for the record what these amendments are and how theyre going to strengthen the current Language Access ordinance. So well be adding findings to adding findings to ensure a safe, inclusive and equitable environment for providing City Services and programs and equal access to city information. Clarify interpretation which is spoken versus translation which is written and making sure this is uniform throughout the lao. Clarifying the role of oca to guide City Departments and remedies to City Departments who are not adhering to the lao. Adding Language Access for Health Related emergencies or disasters. As we have experienced through the covid 19 pandemic, expanding Language Access for Digital Services and social media, which is an area that has experienced tremendous growth since the last memorializing the three required languages chinese, cantonese, spanish and filipino, regardless of population changes, require City Departments to translate signage codifying Language Access strategies for First Responders and crisis. This requires City Departments to inform members of the public of their right to file a complaint, and a and of a process for providing feedback on the departments Language Access services requiring complaints on departments to be published quarterly on the oca website and to the immigrants Rights Commission and also the board of supervisors, so we can Work Together to help departments comply with the Language Access ordinance and improve our Language Access services as a whole. Impose requirements for the annual Language Access summary report required departments to post notice of the availability of Language Access services and know your rights brochure to access Language Services. And finally, require departments to budget and plan for the delivery of Language Access services in their annual budgets. And again, i just want to emphasize, over the past year, weve done this work with oca, human immigrants Rights Commission, human Rights Commission, Language Access networks. All our partners and community. I do want to extend a thank you to deputy City Attorney Alicia Cabrera for helping draft the new amendments. And, of course, to deputy City Attorney ann pearson for her support, we did email these additional new amendments to, our colleagues and to your team, implementing updated provisions of the letter, bilingual services act for emergency and disaster Translation Services. The legislatures amendments were in response to Critical Incidents like the Mass Shootings in Half Moon Bay and monterey park, as well as the broken levee and monterey county, which severely impacted communities with significant lep persons. Various new media documented the local agencys failure to provide Language Services to communicate Vital Information on safety and access to recovery with impacted community. The updated findings and Language Access in San Francisco, including Public Service announcements and Vital Information in multiple languages. One of the things that is very important lowering the language threshold requirement from 10,000 to 6000 residents, now including vietnamese, effective two years from the passage of the ordinance, we also be requiring City Departments to maintain lists of bilingual employees in their languages, providing written materials and requested languages for lep persons within 48 hours with good faith efforts for translation within a reasonable amount of time. Establishing a streamlined, compliant process through oca for Language Access. Service difficulties while informing the public about complaint procedures and feedback mechanisms. Creating a multilingual know your rights brochure. Developing standardized vocabulary lists for required languages. Strengthening oshas role in enforcing and compliance and we just want to again reiterate that it is very important to include these amendments for compliance and to make sure that not only we are adhering to the lao, but providing access and more opportunity for our residents to participate in the democratic process, to know what were doing in City Government, and providing the public with information needed to be a part of the democratic process. I do have a question for deputy City Attorney anne pearson, and just want to make sure that we are able to include additional amendments to add the definition of bills for our City Services or taxes, and the definition of Vital Information. Deputy City Attorney anne pearson those amendments are not included in the version that you circulated today, but the amendments that you are introducing are substantive. So this will be back before the committee next week, and we can have those amendments prepared by then. Thank you, because we do want to just stay for this, for the public, refine the requirement for translate being the know your rights information brochure by replacing 20 most spoken languages in San Francisco with 20 languages in San Francisco that are most spoken and have the highest rates of Language Access. Need on page 24, line 23. And so we will, of course, address that in the amendments as well, at this time, chair ronen, id like to open this up for Public Comment. I also want to thank, cosponsor supervisor chan for all her work. And of course, city administrator carmen chu for her support through the process as well. And i do see supervisor safai. Supervisor safai. Thank you. Just want to thank supervisor walton for your for your leadership on this. This is in a time when, immigrant families are are not necessarily feeling welcome, feeling scapegoated and feeling isolated and pointed out its important that our city step up and embrace and step forward, a way to make them feel more included and inclusive. So appreciate the hard work that youve done. The immigrant Rights Commission and the office of oca. So id like to be added as a cosponsor. This is really, really important step forward for our city to clarify and do all the hard work to access, have good, strong Language Access in all forms. Thank you, thank you. And i would also like to thank you for your work and ask to be added as a cosponsor. And with that, can we please open the these items up to Public Comment, yes. Members of the public who wish to speak on on these items should line up to speak. At this time. Each speaker will be allowed two minutes. There will be a soft chime when you have 30s left and a louder chime when your time has expired. You may begin. Good morning. Im marlene tran. Thank you for convening this very important meeting and for the immigrant rights to be here to provide so much information that is updated. I am also a former immigrant Rights Commissioner and a retired bilingual teacher with 35 years of teaching at the San Franciscos first newcomer school. The former Chinese Education Center covid cidentally. Two days ago, the caa celebrated the 50th anniversary of the law versus nichols landmark decision, which enabled millions of nonEnglish Speaking students to learn english. Since 1974. This mornings proceeding is actually an extension of the basic rights of our diverse and nonEnglish Speaking residents in San Francisco. From my frequent interactions with nonEnglish Speaking residents, we want to make four recommendations. Maybe this has been answered already. Number one, newsletters from supervisors with diverse constituents to provide translation, which is not done now. City hall tv coverage to provide at least subtitles as you can see, this screen only shows english and it doesnt help people who want to know the proceedings. Number three, we would like to see, oca hire more translators to help with the, Community Groups, especially during their community meetings. Number four, we want to have better outreach of the proceedings, or rather, the, all the information from the irc so that people can have different ways to interact with the, commissions. So i think that these are some of the recommendations that are made and because of time constraints, hopefully i will be able to offer more after i hear from more residents. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning, my name is sheng yen lee, and im the advocate with chinese for affirmative action. We are a Member Organization of language of nasas Language Access network of San Francisco, also known as lan. Sf the network is made up of Six Community based organizations representing a multilingual, multiethnic, and Multicultural Network from arab, latino, black, aapi and other directly impacted communities. First of all, we would like to thank supervisor walton and his office for leading the revision of the Language Access ordinance and partnering with Community Organizations and oca to implement this important strategies that serve Community Members across the country. In San Francisco, 148,000 people speak chinese at home, 90 more than 89,000 people speak spanish, and many others speak a variety of dialogs. Over the last nine months, the Language Access network of San Francisco has continued to call for reform of the Language Access ordinance as the immigrant and limited English Speaking population continues to grow, it is crucial to acknowledge the importance of providing services in peoples preferred languages. So as someone whose first language is not english, seeking data points for todays Public Comments takes extra time and effort. Accessing well translated city and state websites will save me time and energy, but what i experienced is nothing compared to what others are facing when their needs needs to be received, Language Access is essential on a daily basis and in every aspect of our life. We stand here together in solidarity to bring experiences from the community to process concerns and bridge the gap between the communitys need and the ordinance. Thank you for your time. Hi tiger, how are you . Hi tony. Hi, tony san jorge, come, come. Yanto. Hi, sam. Sam would come from sam. Fancy how do you say hi, gang . Hi sam. I see you like football. Tony yes. Thank you for having some fancy qanon. Go see how. You go to my gym to go see you. Panggung. Thank you. Zhiyin yao. See the yao song . You take in the hip, you pass it to yao. You see . Thank you to my tiktok. Venmo morphing song. Come see. Thank you. So jingle composer yao gong batong. You kaifong to yao kun. Yi ji seok. Yi yin folk voctech. Jessica. How you doing . Ma ming yi kim yin sifu bao tong. Sao yang. Hey ek fu gua sin yi intelli venmo d. O. J. Ill help translate. Good morning supervisors. My name is aayu. I immigrated from taiwan and my family and i currently live and work in San Francisco. Im grateful that San Francisco is a home to diverse immigrant communities, and even more appreciative of the citys Language Access that has improved throughout the years. In the past, when i visited sf mta, there was relatively Little Information and Resources Available in different languages. Now the now the agency provides more materials and information in different languages. Occasionally staff the front desk with bilingual clerks and play instructions in different languages on the bus, expanding crucial and necessary Language Services. Thank you supervisors and supervisor walton specifically for advocating the amendments. Ensure that everyone has the right to receive timely translation and interpretation and interpretation, and in the language they are most familiar familiar with, including through telephonic and written materials, as well as ensuring departmental compliance through audits. Each year, we hope to continue working with the board and departments to improve Language Services. Thank you. Hello, how are you . My okay. How are sometimes you can make a yi sun yi man come a yi yi. Come and see san would yi yi the whole day. Come get some icus yi informatio. I think yi venmo tan chin chin. Yang yi bing. Come. Okay, nina. Okay. Hi, im amanda icu term emergency. Venmo. Come and see how we go, man. He called you one li li yongfang. Go go go go. Come coming. You informatio like come to me to me, you know seng. Sam. Hey, man. Zheng chenggong to come to. You joe biden. Cheng yi young man. Batonga semen cap yi informal kong kanga gong fan. So yi lin. Guy so. So you. Macao tong. I will help translate. Hello everyone. Thank you for this opportunity today. My name is aggie and i am a community leader. When i arrived to live in San Francisco as a new immigrant, i encountered a large language barrier because my native tongue is cantonese. Fortunately, i soon learned that the City Departments are required to provide Language Service, and in chinese. However, the frontline staff of some of some city agencies still do not provide adequate Language Services. One time my neighbor had an Emergency Health issue that needed immediate medical attention. However, the frontline responder that arrived only spoke english and the immediate family wasnt fluent and could not understand. As a result, they searched throughout the building for someone to translate, which hindered treatment. This example illustrates the implementation of the sf Language Access ordinance is not yet comprehensive. I implore the city and departments to increase funding and budget, to strengthen the training and standard procedure for every staff member to recognize and assist Community Members who are not fluent in english. Thank you. Good morning. My name is Anisha Hingorani and i am a policy manager at chinese for affirmative action. Also providing comment on the lao amendments. Oca as we heard releases an annual Language Access compliance summary report every february that offers Critical Data and insights on how the city is meeting the Language Access needs of its diverse constituents. This report also incorporates the results of Community Driven spot checks, and proposes key data driven policy recommendations. As you heard earlier, the report this year highlights troubling trends, including a decrease in bilingual staffing, a decrease in the number of telephonic interpretations, and an alarming decrease in the Language Services budgets from 20 million down to 15 million across departments. Furthermore, the spot check data shows that 22 of respondents had wait times of 10 to 20 minutes and almost a third of respondents were never connected to a bilingual employee or vendor interpreter. This demonstrates that a significant number of residents who exercise their right to Language Access do not receive it. As we know, residents connect with City Departments to access essential life saving and Emergency Services and resources being turned away because departments fail in their responsibility to provide timely Language Access is not only a civil rights violation, it further deepens the marginalization that immigrant communities experience and erodes the trust that communities place in their government. It is against this backdrop that we uplift oshas recommendations, which calls for improved internal training, hiring and retention of bilingual staff, strengthening compliance, Data Collection and reporting, and increasing Language Services, resources and budgets. It is against this backdrop that we earnestly push our city leaders to work with Community Groups to rectify the decline in Language Access, investments and the deprioritisation of departments. Language access, responsibilities and really push for a culture change where departmental policies and actions reflect a comprehensive commitment to language rights. Thank you. Johnson, gawai. Good morning, supervisor. My name is jose ng and im the immigrant Rights Program manager at chinese for affirmative action, also providing Public Comment for the lao revisions. I want to thank you, supervisor warden and supervisor chen, for your leadership on leading these amendments and also supervisor safai and chair ronen for your cosponsor ring. We commend oshas leadership and efforts over the years working with the nsf, the community, in identifying the Language Access ordinance, implementation gap. But we all know that, you know, these gaps still exist and thus the Language Access complaint process is one way for the Community Member to share their experiences with the city. Yet the process still has a long way to go in order to hold the City Departments accountable based on our experience with the community, we care the number of lao violations does not truly capture the reality of whats occurring on the ground. With the limited English Speaking, proficient Community Members can remember mine, not be consistently find report due to the facts one they dont know about the language rights. Second, the complaint form is not translated in the language. Third, they do not trust the city will do anything to resolve the issue than violation occurs. We recognize our citys Financial Resources are being impacted and shrinked. We must reiterate Language Services, a core City Services that are essential to our citys diverse immigrant population. These Language Services have been defunded and underfunded and need to be prioritized in order to serve our immigrant population in the city. We hope, you know, oca would have enough staffing and capacity to oversee the equitable implementation of these vital provisions, and we ask the board of supervisor, especially the rules committee, to support all the budget requirement to fully implement this efficient and amendment of the Language Access ordinance. Thank you. Supervisor for your report and working with the community, and we appreciate for your efforts. Thank you. Hello. Can i request for an interpreter . What language . Filipino. I believe theyre in the room. Maraming salamat po. Thank you. I see theresa do lalas nakatira po ako sa ica isna, distrito de San Francisco. I am theresa lalas. I live in district six, in San Francisco. I nanawagan po sa inyo. Im calling upon you that, ang isang lengua po napaka importante sa mga apo na walang alam po sa lingua in english language is very important, especially to people who do not know any other language except english. Halimbawa po na isang to wainganga ng buhay at saka po siya sa nueva uno uno. Pero yong tau po na na sagapo hindi niya alam kung ano po yung lingua. So anong gagawin po. For example, if a persons life is in danger and they call 911 and it happens that the person on the other line does not speak english, what will we do . So napaka importante kasi yung po yung mga tao na na walang alam po sa english atsaka yung na na na na po ng mga nila sa isang hospital pumupunta sa uno, uno sa mga comunidad at saka ano po na kailangan po na na marunong po masalin po yung isang lingua. This is important for people whose lives are in danger when they go to the hospital. Call 911. For those persons, it is very important that there is someone that will be able to interpret their their needs. Its an important aspect of din po isang kakayahan po sa kultura ng isang lingua, isang isang, isang kultura sa comunidad. It is also important that in the process of interpretation, the interpreter, whoever is interpreting should understand the culture of a particular community. Yung important isang din ako, isang advocate. May advocacy po sa bilingual edukasyon. So that is important for me, especially for when i advocate for education in isang bilingual edukasyon para sa mga bata na hindi po sino suportahan ng School District dito sa San Francisco. So ako ay nananawagan po sa inyo na suportahan din po ninyo yung bilingual education at saka yung ano po yung yung access, yung access dito sa comunidad natin at saka sana po ay dengan new din po na yung kakayahan ng mga ahensiya po ninyo dito sa San Francisco. Maraming salamat po. It is important that bilingual education, especially for kids that are not supported by the city, please help us with with this and please, exert your efforts to improve the capacity of agencies with regards to bilingual interpretation. Thank you. Good morning supervisors. My name is zachary friel. Im a d5 resident and i work at the south of Market Community action network. Im here to speak in support of the amendments, despite filipino being an official language of San Francisco, our staff have found numerous shortcomings with filipino Language Access as it stands today. Our staff often have to go outside their duties to fill the role of interpreter for our clients at Public Meetings, like court hearings. And one time when an interpreter was provided, they werent even accurately interpreting what was said, in addition, our staff and clients have found the citys filipino translations, often machine translated by google, to be inadequate and at times indecipherable. In my role, ive often had to remind applications to provide filipino translations for documents. As such, these amendments are crucial in addressing the citys shortcomings in providing Language Access services. We look forward to continuing to work with oca on further improvements to strengthen our communities Language Access rights. Wed also like to thank supervisor walton for your leadership on this issue. Thank you so much. Hello, board of supervisors. My name is janelle and i am with the Filipino Community center, which is a Member Organization of la nsf. Despite filipino being constituted as a threshold language in San Francisco ten years ago, we have seen many gaps in interpretation and translated materials from City Departments. Through fcc. We have assisted many lep Community Members who have faced challenges with navigating housing, immigration, Domestic Violence violations in their workplace, and other life threatening experiences that is exacerbated because of the lack of filipino speaking, staffing in City Departments. There was an emergency situation where a monolingual Community Member required immediate medical assistance. However had we not been present as fcc to provide interpretation while medical staff or frontline workers were present, then they would not have understood the actual medical condition and needs of the Community Member and how dire it was to bring her to the hospital. There were multiple incidents where many Community Members were also facing wrongful eviction notices, yet they were not able to Access Materials in tagalog or filipino , nor interpretation in filipino. From the rent board of San Francisco about their rights. Weve also assisted in multiple court case hearings to provide interpretation on the side, because there wasnt interpretation provided timely providing Public Safety, emergent health, and human services, and Public Programs in the languages that Community Members understand is essential for monolingual families to live safely and sustainably. In San Francisco. An emergency deserves Immediate Response time and is a matter of life or death. As as in language assistance would delay the, not providing that would delay the critical time to save someones life. So access to quality Language Services ensures that our nonenglish native speakers and migrant Community Members are treated with dignity and respect. Thank you. Good morning, supervisors, my name is jared, and im a staff member at the Filipino Community center in district 11, which is a Member Organization of the Language Access network of San Francisco, Language Access is an essential for our Community Members to utilize the critical Public Services that they need, but navigating different Public Services can be very difficult and confusing, especially when these services are not offered in a language that our clients can understand. And oftentimes, our Community Members who have a limited English Proficiency are ignored or brushed off when they are trying to access or avail of different Public Services and programs, which is why, nonEnglish Speakers rely on the protections and support that are made available through the Language Access ordinance and the various organizations of lnsf, strengthening Language Access in San Francisco for working class immigrant communities, its not only practical, but is necessary for the communitys full participation, respect and livelihood within the city, lowering the threshold for lep residents, having the right to be served in the language our Community Members are familiar with. And translating the Language Access ordinance. Know your rights brochure in 20 different languages are just some of the winds that the Language Access network of San Francisco were able to achieve, but there is so much more work to be done in order to improve Language Access in San Francisco, which is why we are looking forward to a resolution that increases the opportunities for oca to work with our communities on these concerns. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is jamari, and im also a staff member at the Filipino Community center, so many majority of the clients we serve are immigrants, seniors with disabilities who are seeking to avail of disability benefits. Ed and many other services that the city provides, but cannot because the agencies do not have the tagalog translator readily available, which is why we serve them. And sometimes this would delay access to key services for weeks, especially if they cant find our center or were not able to get to them. And these cases are case managers have to step in and interpret for our clients through the application process, for many lep speaking Community Members of all backgrounds, Language Access is a matter of basic health and safety, before we can meet the material needs of our communities, we must first meet their fundamental need of communication to be understood and to understand, San Franciscos vibrant diversity is a testament to that need for expanded Language Access in City Services, so that all our communities can thrive and have a life of dignity. We celebrate the victories of sf, including affirming the right to be served in the language we are most comfortable and familiar with, and lowering of the ordinance threshold from 10,000 to 6000. We look forward to resolutions that will provide more opportunities for oca to work with the community on this. Equity issues such as, establishing permanent bilingual staffing and City Departments. Thank you so much. Bonjour la can say the supervisor, je mappelle muna african advocacy network, a member of the collaborative the land access network. The Language Access network, the San Francisco. Yes, im speaking in french. Im from mali. My mother language is sorry. I speak sorry. The language spoken in mali by most of the population is malinke. I speak malinke. French is the language the colonizer brought to us, i speak french, i came to america. I have to learn english. So im assuming you understood what i said in french. Because you just guess it. It was easy. Imagine this is what the majority of our Community Members have to deal on a daily basis when they go seek help and they speak in english in a language that theyre not familiar and not comfortable in, they have to guess. They have to answer to the question just by guessing. Its a matter of life or death questions most of the time, but they saying yes or no to something that they just feel like maybe i say yes, this is the right answer here. Maybe i say no, this is the right answer here. This is the reason why im standing here today. I believe that in a city celebrated for its diversity, black immigrant often face unique barriers due to language and cultural differences. It is not just about translating documents, it is about ensuring equitable access to education, health care, Legal Services and community support. When language becomes a barrier, people are excluded from opportunities that others might take for granted. We need more interpreters in translators and translators. We understand the linguistic nuances and cultural background of black immigrant community. We must support Community Based organizations that work directly with these groups, offering cultural, relevant services. Additionally, City Services must be trained to recognize and address the specific needs of this immigrant. Thank you for your support and time today. Hi there. My name is marty doolas and i wanted to share a story with you. So when i had studied abroad in japan, i woke up one day and i lost hearing in one ear and being in a different country, just barely knowing the language and having to seek out city like City Government language to find my health access. And thats a whole different language and an entirely different language in japanese. So i was afraid, i was scared, i didnt know what to do. Thank goodness. Like, i was able to access Language Services with my school and get the need that i that i needed for my health, but to even access that is a hurdle. And i know that because i see like people like on the streets, ive actually had like ladies like from the Chinese Community stop me because theyre like, you know, looking at my face, im actually filipino, but but mixed. But, you know, they stopped me and they they asked me in their language for like a certain address. And im just like, like i find out because, like, they show me their phones and, im just like, i know where this is. And i just walk them to as far as i can go, and sometimes all the way to where they need to go. But when im there, all i can do is just leave them there and hope that they can get the access of what they need in these City Governments. When they get into those buildings, will the will those accesses to their language be there . Will they get the necessary help like i did when i was studying abroad . But at the same time, there was also that lack of cultural understanding. When i did get those accesses as so to be able to fulfill this in the city is a is beautiful and it is a i know it is a big hurdle because we have such diversity, but i know in your leadership, please, i hope that we can make this happen. Thank you. Good morning. My name is ann lim and i am a tenant councilor from the south of Market Community action network. Most of our clients are immigrant filipino families. Our community is directly impacted and we are advocating to close the Language Access gap across the city. Most of our clients are in need of Counseling Services regarding their tenancy and disputes with their landlords. As a tenant counselor, i have witnessed how most filipinos could not understand notices, legal documents and agreements that are needed for their tenancy. Most of the time, they are being tricked by their landlords and the tenants are forced to move out of their homes just because they do not understand the english language. They do not know how to seek help from the city or rent board. Because of the language barrier. Filipino immigrant families are also afraid to step out of the shadow to access critical Public Services. Language access supports immigrant families to feel safe in accessing Public Services. It is essential that Language Access is available to all. Language access promotes dignity and respect. Access to Language Services ensures that nonenglish native residents and immigrants are treated with dignity and respect. Thank you very much. My name is janet, im from San Francisco. You mind pulling the microphone closer . Thank you. Okay, tonight, im from San Francisco, california. Originally from eritrea, africa. So, i took the translation, the interpreter course soon, the Community Interpreter course. So im glad to have that course. So my focus is we dont have enough, in the, in the field of, like, police or hospitals or in social service, we have difficulty, you know, we have some sense of, translators. So im focusing on hospital, specially the delivery mothers. You know, they have pain or something. They couldnt translate that, you know, they have shortage. So i have, like, nursing experience. I work in delivery when i was in africa. So i wish i got that chance or people have that kind of chance as a mother. I know whats delivery mean. So when they have pain, which part they have to press, how the husband help her so that things focus. I focus on that specially on medical field. Thank you so much. Good morning. Can speak english . I need the interpreter. Akaboshi. Nori. Membranous is sama bilang . Isang manggagawa nakaranas ng digana is nice na situation. Lalo na pagdating sa wikang english isa sa mga una was important papeles para sa trabajo na maintindihan ng mga nagagawa sa akin. Kung hindi ito my silence, awakening wikang tagalog namin sa mga naiintindihan ko ang aking mga karapatan bilang manggagawa kasi ito sa amin, sabi ng tagalog, sa montana ng kailangan kong maintindihan lahat ng aking tungkol sa bahay at immigration, at ibaba Ang Kailangan natin ngayon ang pag dbi na tulungan kami na maintindihan ng sa Language Access ordinance. Hindi lang para sa mga pamilya nandito kung hindi sa mga para sa kailangan ng malakas na Language Access. Parama tulungan kami. Maraming salamat po. Translate. Good morning. My name is nori flamingo, member of samahan. Im a caregiver and i live in soma. As a migrant worker, i experienced undesirable situations, especially when it came to language. One of those is understanding Important Documents for work. How can i understand what i am asked to do if they are not translated in my own language as sam, can i fully understand my rights as a worker because it was taught in our own language . I also go to sam, ken when i need to understand about work, housing, immigration and so on. Thats why we need to further strengthen our Language Access ordinance, not just for those family who are here, but for families that are coming here that will surely need a strong Language Access. Thank you very much. Magandang umaga sa lahat. Akong Community Engagement coordinator. Soma Pilipinas Ang filipino Cultural Heritage district. Dito sa San Francisco na ang organization na sa comunidad na na katawan sisang multilingual, multiethnic art network na comunidad mula sa arab, latino, black aapi at iba pang director apektado na mga comunidad na sulong nasara gawad sa mga lamang bilang isang ibang comunidad kung sino suportahan unleaded legislation sa pagbabago sa ordinance sa pag ahsha savika mahalaga na lahat ng residente, i may Pantai Pantai na privilegio sa mga serbisyo ng gobyerno ay naman ng kanilang katutubong. Ng ordinance ito na lang sa wika and sa mga alsabah isa na makatanggap na mahalagang tulong na kailangan nila bilang isang nakikipag tulungan sa mga pamilyang pilipino. Nakita kabataan alam ko kung ano nakaka dismay among system at proceso ng walang supporters sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay naman serbisyong multilingual Naniniwala Ako naman natin sulong na makakasama atomica na malakas na comunidad para sa lahat. Thank you. Good morning. My name is naval. I am the Community Engagement coordinator with sama filipinos. The filipino Cultural Heritage district. I am here in support of the Language Access network of San Francisco, which is made up of Six Community based organizations representing a multilingual, multiethnic and Community Networks for from arab, latino, black, aapi and other direct communities. Advocating to close the language gap on language gap access in the city as a as a member of the diverse community, i totally support the Language Access ordinance amendment. I totally support the language accidents ordinance amendments legislation. It is important that all residents have equal access to Government Services regardless of their native language. This ordinance will ensure that language barriers do not prevent individuals from receiving the vital assistance they need. As someone who works with families, seniors, and health and youth, i know firsthand how frustrating, how frustrating it is it can be to navigate the complex system and processes without proper language support by providing multilanguage, multilingual services. I believe that we can promote inclusivity and create a Stronger Community for everyone. Thank you. Magandang umaga po ako po sicilian kintanar. Good morning supervisors. I am silayan kintanar, a filipino caseworker with the south of Market Community action network. I work with low income, working class immigrant families and individuals, seniors, people with disabilities, single parents, the most vulnerable members of our community, and many of whom are lep. Some of them came with us today to show their support. Filipinos are in dire need of Language Access services. A lot of our clients have experienced difficulties in accessing Public Services, such as essential food and health and housing programs, and are also unable to report habitability issues in the bmr, housing and sros that they live in. On their own. Due to language barriers, they come to us Community Based organizations because we provide culturally competent and linguistically appropriate Language Services. They come to us when they need to apply or call departments or programs to follow up on their applications, or if they need letters and documents translated and explained to them. Cbos are filling the gaps. A single mom with children even lost their chance of at affordable housing, even though they were selected in the lottery, since they did not fully comprehend the requirements and the one communicating with them only spoken english. Some filipino speak english, but comprehend in filipino language. Language access is a civil rights issue for all. It is core to upholding the values of San Francisco. Although progress has been made, there is still a lot to be done. We cannot stress enough the importance of providing culturally and linguistically appropriate services for all. Maraming salamat po. Good morning supervisors. My name is abdul and im the director of the african advocacy network, my colleague vanessa and our committee are members, and i have said quite a lot about this, but i will start by saying thank you, because i think the Language Access ordinance itself is an accomplishment. It speaks to this desire for more integration. And my presence here, as i always say, is also a testament to the diversity of who we are coming from all over the world. And, would it be racial . Would it be cultural . But its also linguistic. And i personally do not believe that Language Access ordinance is a static situation. Its an ongoing process. And as were speaking today, i bet in 2 or 3 years will be here again because the communities are growing day after day. So we believe that the Language Access issue is not going to be handled without the active participation of the communities themselves. We are the ones who got the natural capacity to speak those languages. We are the ones who have got the cultural competency in order to better convey from one language to another, you know, any kind of message and i think were here to speak about equity. We speak, we are here to speak about inclusion. We are here to speak about integration, and we are here to speak about empowerment. And we say Community Based organization. We stand ready to work with oci and then be along with them in order to address this issue. And again, you know, were looking forward to great things. And then a resolution that will allow us to work better in a fully manner. You know, with oci will be certainly a step forward, but again, its an ongoing process. And thank you again for your time. Good morning. My name is nick g. Im on the Advocacy Team with chinese for affirmative action, also providing Public Comment on the lao revisions. As we know, the revisions for the Language Access ordinance has been overdue, and weve waited patiently since 2021 to move this process forward. And so we want to express our gratitude for the recent collaboration with city leadership, including supervisor walton, natalie g. Supervisor chan francis hsieh, oca, and director rivas, the human Rights Commission, and many, many Community Members for their efforts to identify the gaps and call for additional languages to be included in the ordinance. The work to ensure the Language Access ordinance truly meets the diverse needs of San Franciscos immigrant communities is not over, and the Language Access network of San Francisco looks forward to working with supervisor walton on a resolution that increases opportunities for oca to work with the community on key equity concerns, as we call for continued efforts to expand language resources to reach the citys top 20 spoken languages, we call for city agencies and departments to provide adequate budgets and tangible plans to provide language resources, as we call on detailed Compliance Reports, to be submitted to the board of supervisors, which should include detailed summaries broken down by department and language of all complaints, investigations, outcomes, and individual and systemic remedies to address the root cause of the violation. And we call for the city and the board to adequately fund oca to implement the lao through community informed processes. We call for the city to break down barriers and create systems of Language Justice for all. We look forward to continuing to advocate for Language Justice and partner with city officials to address concerns of the community and effectively bridge the gap of Language Access. Thank you. Hello everyone. Maybe im a little bit shaken because the first time for me, i just want to let you know i came here with my class, the esl classes, the families here with me. My name is rania and we need the arabic interpreter here. Im coming here to present the families from my class. My name is rania. Im as a esl teacher assistant, and also as an arabic family liaison at the sf isd. One of the schools. And i want to talk about Something Like some schools sometimes dont allow parents from using their right to have an interpreter present at their parents teacher conferences, despite the fact that the sf isd offers a free language line. Consequently, parents are often unable to fully comprehend their childrens academic and social needs, leading to their nonattendance at School Conferences due to the language barrier. In addition, all the leaves on Google Translate most of the time for translating documents as the enrollment application also, i am well aware of the many challenges that nonnative English Speakers face when trying to access Public Services and resources. It can be quite frustrating for them and they often interrupt the class to ask for help. Moreover, during the pandemic, many people lives were in danger and there was a serious lack of Resources Available to help them or even know how to deal with it. Please support the Language Access, especially for all these needs. The lack of representative representation for the arab and mena communities in the us census has created significant barriers to accessing resources support hindering their ability to thrive and contribute fully to society. Talk about personal narratives highlights the effects of the language barriers in crucial areas such as housing, education, health care and access. Accessing Victim Services shed light on the urgent need for Language Access and inclusion measures, especially in the concern of the increasing islamophobia and again, i want to just say again, to insist about how important for us speaker time has elapsed. Thank you. Oh, sorry. Thank you. Thank you so much. My name is abdul. I am a Resident Service supervisor at Chinatown Community development center, and im an immigrant Rights Commission. Im im speaking on my on my on my behalf and on myself as an individual today, i would just like to thank the supervisors and ahsha staff and immigrant Rights Commission for being here and advocating for our immigrant community, i really appreciate the Language Access ordinance and the amendments, everyone would like to add to, but i would like to add and again, and i would like to thank all the esl class and families and our families from tier one turk and through chinatown and in the Tenderloin Community for being here today. And i would add to my colleague, even with proposed threshold adjustments, the current criteria for the limited limited English Proficiency studies, this excluding the arabic community, as in evidence by the by the low number of like individuals identified, which undermines their ability to access essential services and participate fully in civic life, and as well in hurting vulnerability to discriminate and marginalize them. The alarming rise of islamophobia underscored the criteria importance, the crucial importance of ensuring that our city processes are inclusive and equitable, particularly for vulnerable communities like the arab and mena population. Excluding their community. These communities only serves to perpetuate systemic injustice and further marginalize those already facing discrimination and prejudice. I would just add, i would like really for these communities under war, like the ukrainian and the arab countries and communities, to be really supported by the language ordinance and actually give them more support for their services in the city. Thank you so much. Marhaban. Azmi, amirah and taliban safai. Come on islam, come to an end. Salam. La la la la la la la la la la la. La any la la la la. Fema ahsha. Mutarjim. Hi welcome to let you. All. So what can i do for you . Hello, my name is amira. Im a Certified Health care interpreter, and im also a member of the Islamic Community center, im here on my behalf, but i thought i want to share with you that when i thought that relocating to an English Speaking country is going to be easy for me because i speak the language. But that was far from true. And if it wasnt for the help that was provided to me by my Community Member members, i wouldnt have been able to overcome many obstacles, and i have had access to many resources. As an interpreter, i have witnessed situations where Language Access was life saving, and i cant imagine the difficulties. Those who dont speak the language have to experience every single day, where Language Access is absent, whether its a Public Service office or their childrens school. And sometimes theyre at their doctors office, or simply sometimes they dont have enough time for the interpreter. Thank you. Good morning, supervisor angelica. And excuse me, director of sam. Can i want to thank again the leadership of supervisor walton, his legislative aide, natalie gee, supervisor chen and her legislative aide, francis shay oca, immigrant Rights Commission supervisor ronen and supervisor safai. Our partners led nsf members and our community. When the city certified filipino as the citys official third language in 2014, it should have signaled a full implementation of filipino as a language that must be used in communicating essential City Services to the public. By the end of 2015, under lao. However, in 2019, sam, along with doctor Valerie Francisco and chavez and her team of Student Research from San Francisco state, published a report that shows filipino Language Access has been unevenly delivered across City Departments and agencies, leaving many filipino residents unable to reach basic and Important Services and information. And to this day, that is still the case. Thats why we applaud the efforts of everyone here today and their commitment to strengthening the existing language ordinance with amendments. Todays amendments are the right steps toward filling those gaps and barriers our communities are experiencing , and we look forward to a board resolution that will continue our collective effort on addressing key equity concerns, like having permanent bilingual staffing in City Departments. Currently, there is no percentage across the City Departments of how many staff they should have inhouse that spoke another language, and that needs to change because nonprofit workers can only do so much. Excuse me. In addition, when San Francisco needs services, its important someone is right there to help them. Thank you again. And we look forward to working with all of you. Hi. Good morning. Its still morning. My name is sarah singh. Im the policy director at the office of Racial Equity for the city with the human Rights Commission, thank you to natalie, to chloe, to director riva, supervisor walton, and, of course, all the Community Members for their hard work on this ordinance. I wasnt going to speak today, but i felt very moved by this Public Comment, and i just wanted to call attention to a few things, one is, as you know, as we talk about Language Access in this room, i was sitting in the back and i could see from the back, that there were still people who have to hold up their phones and ask Google Translate to translate for them live. Even as we sit and one of the wealthiest cities in the country, and so that is how important Language Access is, and that is also how easy it is to overlook access for those languages that maybe dont make up. You know, i am chinese. I am very fortunate. There are very many chinese speakers, spanish speakers in the city, but there are so many communities with greater need arabic speakers, tigrinya, amharic, swahili speakers, mongolian speakers, khmer speakers, who need this support, so i want to call attention to two things in the ordinance, one is in the Emergency Response section. It has a 5 threshold thats taken directly from existing state legislation. I just wanted to note that in San Francisco, based on current federal data, if we use that 5 threshold, the only languages that those departments will be required to translate into is spanish and chinese. Thats if we consider population at a citywide level. If we look at population at a district by district level, my understanding is that in many of those districts, there would be no language that would qualify for 5 or even a 2. 5 threshold, the second thing i wanted to note is one thing in the. Oh, okay. Thank you. We can get the information from you. I know an email was sent as well. Thank you. Good morning. Thank you. Supervisor walton, for working on lao. And a big thank you to supervisor chan ronen and supervisor safai for cosponsoring it. Thank you for all your work as well. I am kudrat chaudhry and currently serve as the vice chair for chair of immigrant Rights Commission and today ill be speaking on my own behalf. Recently, i was in boston and was discussing about leo with someone i mentioned that we have chinese, filipino, and spanish as mandatory languages and that San Francisco City Departments are supposed to provide information in these languages. I was then told that boston provides Interpretation Services in more than 35 languages. You go to a City Department, point out the language, and they will provide you interpretation within minutes. This is something that San Francisco should consider. Language access is a matter of civil rights and is a way to empower San Franciscos residents. With the influx of immigrants speaking different languages, i called that the city breaks down barriers and ensures that our current residents and the incoming immigrants are able to navigate around housing, employment, resources, and immigration help and more by having access to different languages. We need to be culturally sensitive and know that language needs will grow and change, just like were seeing with ukrainian and arabic needs that are that are sperging. So i urge you to continue this conversation going on and hope that more languages are added in time. Thank you. Good morning supervisors. My name is joyce chan and im a Youth Commission staff reading a Public Comment on behalf of the commission in the 2023 and 2024 budget and policy priorities, the Youth Commission firmly supports the need to improve Language Access for all San Francisco residents. This priority was created by multiple commissioners who held the same belief that the success of youth and individuals is highly dependent on their ability to communicate with others, and that no one should be restricted from Vital Services such as healthcare and education. On the basis of their language ability. A few recommendations that we made were to provide increased Financial Support for esl and Foreign Language programs in both sf, usd, and ccsf to better address the educational and linguistic needs of San Franciscos immigrant communities. Lower the threshold of the number of people required to speak a language. To receive required Translation Services from 10,000 people to 6000 people and expand translation and interpretation training and services across City Departments to ensure equitable communication. Even with limited English Proficiency, lep residents. We want to affirm that San Francisco is one of the most diverse cities in the nation and is welcoming to all ethnic backgrounds. We appreciate all the work and support that has gone into increasing Language Access for all youth and families throughout the city and county of San Francisco. It is crucial to ensure that this work continues and is carried out to the best of its ability. Thank you. Are there any other speakers who would like to make Public Comment on these matters . I do not see any additional speakers. Public comment is now closed. Supervisor walton thank you, chair ronen. And first, i just want to thank all the community for coming out for Public Comment and stressing how important Language Access is and how important these improvements are. I also definitely want to make sure that i thank my chief of staff, natalie g, for working so closely with community, as well as director rivas and his staff, chloe noonan, as well as chair kenleigh. Also former oca director adrian pond, sarah singh from the hrc, our deputy City Attorney Alicia Cabrera, and of course, deputy City Attorney anne pearson. And i also want to thank city administrator carmen chu for her support and all the Community Advocates through the Language Access network who are here today, who were at the rally today and who came in to speak chinese for affirmative action, for african advocacy network, Filipino Community center, som kan arab resource organizing center, Central American resource center, immigrants Rights Commission, and of course, everyone who participated and collaborated in this effort, i do want to announce that we are working with our Community Partners to come up with a resolution that will capture more of the programmatic parts for Language Access through oca in San Francisco. And we plan to introduce this resolution at the board of supervisors later this month, so we can have some additional time for a thoughtful process. I also do want to acknowledge i know some of our speakers gave more suggestions and things that we can do, and at the end of the day, we will continue to do the work of we have a longer way to go and were really not successful until we achieve 100 access for everyone. So we will keep doing the work again. I want to thank supervisor chan, supervisor safai, supervisor ronen, and supervisor preston for their co sponsorship and i would like to make a motion to accept the amendments at this time. On the motion to amend vice chair walton i. Walton, i supervisor safai safai i chair. Ronen i. Ronen i the motion passes without objection and i move to move item number three. To next weeks meeting with the amendments on the motion to continue the matter as amended to may 13, 2024, vice chair walton i. Walton i supervisor safai safai i chair. Ronen i ronen i. That motion passes without objection. And lastly i move to file item number four to file the hearing on the motion to file item number four. Vice chair walton i walton i supervisor safai safai i chair ronen i ronen i. That motion passes without objection. All three motions pass. Thank you so much to everybody. Thank you so much, mr. Clerk, can you please read item number one . Yes. Item number one is a motion appointing supervisor hillary ronen. Term ending february 4th, 2027, to the local Agency Formation commission. Thank you. Id like to make a motion to excuse supervisor ronen for item number one. Yes. On the motion to excuse supervisor ronen, vice chair walton, a walton i supervisor safai safai. I chair ronen excused. Thank you. And did you already read item number one i yes, i did, do you have any comments or statements . Supervisor safai is there any Public Comment on item number one . Yes. Members of the public wish to make Public Comment can approach the podium at this time. I do not see any Public Commenters for item number one. So much. Thank you so much. Public comment on item one is now closed, and id like to make a motion to move this forward and file it as a move this forward as a committee report. Yes. And a motion to recommend this matter as a committee report, vice chair walton i. Walton i supervisor safai safai i chair ronen excused the motion passes without objection with chair ronen being excused from voting on this matter. Perfect. Thank you so much. Chair. Ronen back at you. Thank you. Colleagues. Mr. Clerk, are there any other items on the agenda before us that completes the agenda for today . The meeting is adjourned im connie chan district one supervisor and welcome to the richmond. Im an immigrant and came to San Francisco china town when i was 13 years old with my mom and brother. My first job is at the Community Organizer for Public Safety with San Francisco state. And land in the city hall and became a legislative aid to sophie maxwell. Went through City Departments when Kamala Harris was our District Attorney im proud to represent the richmondad district supervisor. [music] we have great neighborhood commercial corridors that need to be protected. The reason why we launched the neighborhood business for supporting the [inaudible] for 15 years special more. We have the Legacy Business Program the business around for 30 years or more and thought, you know, we gotta make sure the next generation contains for generations to come. Am im ruth the owner of hamburger haven we came back on july 11. We were opened in 1968 at that time i believe one of the owners of mestart today went through a guy named andy in the early 70s and my father took it mid 70s. Originally was just a burger joint. Open late nights. Then it changed over the years and became the breakfast staple. We specialize in breakfast, brunch come lunch now. I love this neighborhood. I grew up here. And it feels like home. I walk down the block and recognize people of people say hello. You say hello you talk and joke. Has that familiar environment that is enjoyable and i have not experienced anywhere else. There are many things i would like to see improve ams the things we might see are making sure that our tenants stay housed our Small Business in tact and those are the solutions that will contain to push to make sure that you know our communities can take root, stay and thrive. Im proud of you know, welcoming folks to the richmond. Everyone loch its we got Farmers Market every sunday there. The you see really business at the noaa. Ice cream at toy folks and going to chop for book like green apple. And thats when you like the deal is pizza place haall families love. You will see a lot of great chinese shops that is readily available for everyone. And that is just thein are richmond there is more to do in the richmond. What is love is the theatre. I mean adam and with my wife jamie, own Little Company called cinema sf we operate the balboa theatre. The vocabularying theatre on sacramento and soon the 4 star on clement. Balboa theatre opened in 1926 and servicing this Outer Richmond neighborhood since then. And close on the heels the 4 star opens since 1913. When you come in to a movie theatre, the rest of the world has to be left behind. But you get e mersed in the world that is film makers made for you. That is a special experience to very much we can all think of the movies that we saw in the big screen of with everybody screaming or laughing or crying. It is a shared Human Experience that you get when you go in to places that are gatherings and artist presented to you. A shared experience is the most precious. And the popcorn. [laughter]. At the balboa especially, we stroif to have movies for people of every generation from the pop corn palace movies on the weekend mornings, for families and kids. This is for everybody of all ages. What is great about the richmond is it is a neighborhood of the immigrants. Belongs to immigrants not ap i immigrants you will see that there are also a Huge Population of rush wrans and ukrainian immigrants they stay united you am see that the support they lend to each other as a community. And cinderella bakery is another legacy business. If you go on the website it is known as a russian bakery. The first thing you see their pledge to support the ukrainian community. You will see the unity in the richmond im so proud of our immigrant community in the rich monthed. My dad immigrate friday iran the reason he stayed was because of the restaurant. Has more centamential value it is the reasonable we are in this country. When he had an opportunity to take over the instruct he stayed that is why we are here part of our legacy and San Francisco history and like to keep it going for years to come. Another moment im proud to be supporting the richmond and the only Asian American woman elect in the office and as an immigrant that is not happen nothing 3 decades. You see it is my ability to represent especially the asianamerican community. In my case the chinese speaking elders in our community that really can allow me to communicate with them directly. Im Program Director of adult day centers. I have been here for 7 years i love to help the communities and help and the people with disability. I foal a connection with them. I am anim grant i love helping our community and new immigrants and improvements. If you want nature, richmond is the neighborhood to go we are between ocean beach heights and golden gate park. I love the Outer Richmond. For me this is the single best neighborhood in San Francisco. Everybody knows each other. People have been living here forever. It is young and old. The ocean is really near by. And so there is that out doors ocean vibe to it. There are places to seat Golden Gate Bridge it is amazing. Businesses are all small mom and pop businesses. Houses get passed down generation to generation. It has a small town feel but you know you are in a big city at the same time. Its got a unique flavor i dont see in other neighborhoods j. It is about being inclusive we are inclusive and welcome the communities, anybody should feel welcome and belong here and shop local, eat local. We believe that with that support and that network it come in full circle. It is passing on kinds knows. Thats when richmond is about that we are together at once. Welcome to the richmond. [music] clapping . Happy anniversary sfgov you have been providing access to Public Meetings to keep folks connected and our original programming highlights the best of information and makes the city proud music . multiple voices. landing at leidesdorff is as the new Public School in downtown San Francisco for people to come together for 0 lunch and weekends a new place to enjoy the architect and our culture. Landing at leidesdorff one of several initiatives to the road map for the initiatives all about using your public space and network for now environments to 0 invite people adopted not just to the office but any time of the day. It shows there is excitement and energy and people wore looking forward to enjoying the space that people may want to end up in downtown. Weve been operating in the financial district since 2016 with the treasury and coming up we had a small surge in business in the leidesdorff and in about the financial district and a good time to grow here. As a Small Business the leidesdorff is making us being part of it as being part of in project. For me makes we want to be part of San Francisco. So landing at leidesdorff for me represents hope for San Francisco and the sense that this is become such a safe welcoming area. We local artists coming in and exercise boxes and live music but the hub of culture. The downtown partnerships has a studio in San Francisco. They identified 6 locations throughout the downtown area we come together with new activity and spaces. Is between us a place to tell our own story and history. It was named after a captain one the black leaders of San Francisco before that was called San Francisco he was the first treasurer of the city and commercial street a cross street the hifblg original shoreline of San Francisco was just a few feet behind where were 12357b8z around opportunity to bring people to locations we have an opportunity to tell stories and for local businesses