Washington, DC- Department of Human Services (DHS) Director Yvonne Gilchrist stated today that DHS and its Income Maintenance Administration (IMA) do not discriminate against the Spanish-speaking community and have long been committed to ensuring access to available services by all customers, including non-English speaking persons or persons with Limited English Proficiency (LEP).
“I am alarmed that the National Council of La Raza has issued a press release and study accusing DHS of discrimination against the District’s Spanish-speaking population,” said Yvonne Gilchrist. “The fact is that this accusation does not take into account the myriad and proactive efforts DHS has taken to ensure and improve access to services by all customers.”
Contrary to the implications of the press release, the DHS IMA, has the Language Line Interpretation Service to assist non-English speaking customers. Moreover, IMA, on its own initiative and without the benefit of collaboration with the National Council of La Raza and the community organizations that undertook blind testing of IMA customer service, implemented its own system of monitoring and improvements efforts.
In June 2004, IMA hired a Language Access Monitor. The monitor’s initial responsibility was to conduct blind telephone testing of services provided to Spanish-speaking callers. IMA management learned that the results of the test calls made in June 2004 were unacceptable and ordered staff to be re-trained specifically on serving call-in customers. IMA moved expeditiously to address deficiencies identified during the test calls. Since the re-training, the Language Access Monitor has continued to conduct telephone testing of language access
to IMA services.
Results from the on-going blind testing have shown marked improvement in the response time of staff. In the very few cases where IMA staff have been found not to have complied with procedures discussed in training, appropriate action has been taken.
DHS IMA has been recognized both federally and locally for outstanding customer service and accessibility to its programs. IMA strives to ensure access to services by immigrant families
by operating locally funded programs for families that would not be eligible under federal program guidelines. At the same time, IMA has longstanding relationships with numerous community organizations that serve LEP residents.
In particular, IMA funds Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Care through the Bilingual Health Access Program (BHAP). In this capacity, Mary’s Center provides outreach and application assistance to IMA’s LEP customers. Mary’s Center staff provide this service at their own facilities and on-site at the two IMA service centers that serve the majority of LEP customers
(645 H Street, NE and Taylor Street, NW). Additionally, IMA managers frequently meet with Mary’s Center staff to obtain feedback about challenges faced by LEP customers and suggestions on how to improve access to services.
IMA Administrator Kate Jesberg noted, “I share Director Gilchrist’s alarm and am disappointed that concerns about our customer service to non-English speaking persons were not brought
to my attention sooner. I encourage any individual or organization that encounters problems accessing services from IMA to contact us.”
Jesberg further noted that in addition to IMA’s on-going compliance with federal civil rights guidelines, IMA is working actively to ensure compliance with the District’s Language Access Act.
“IMA is committed to providing access to services and the highest levels of customer service to all customers, including making any changes that are necessary to achieve this goal. IMA maintains an open door policy with all community partners and has already demonstrated its commitment to this effort,” said Jesberg.
DHS Director Yvonne Gilchrist added that the Department will aggressively monitor all of its administrations to ensure that we are providing culturally sensitive and accessible services.