Objectives Metropolitan Atlanta's immigrant communities numbers more than 200,000. As is true of newer migrant-receiving destinations across the US, bilingual health professionals are in extremely short supply. To increase access to interpretation for the Limited English Proficient, community groups are collaborating with the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services 1) to increase awareness of social welfare agencies' and health care providers' obligations under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 2) to encourage reports of non-compliance. This paper will describe and evaluate that collaborative effort. Methods Data collection includes: policy research on how to file a complaint; secondary analysis of census and school enrollment data to identify areas with a large LEP population; case studies of how reports of non-compliance are handled by OCR; semi-structured interviews with community leaders and health care providers about strengths and weaknesses of working with Title VI; observation of public meetings at which Title VI is discussed. Results The results will provide an overview of the interpretation situation in Atlanta, and will discuss the successes and failures of this effort to increase access for the LEP population. Conclusions As the demography of immigration continues to change, with an increasing numbers of migrants settling in regions which lack large ethnic communities, the issue of access to interpretation as a first step in culturally appropriate health care provision will grow in importance. This paper will present an easily replicable strategy for using federal law to increase access.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this presentation, participants should be able to: 1) Discuss the experience of community health advocates in Atlanta with using Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to increase access to interpretation for the LEP population; 2) State the requirements for filing a complaint for non-compliance with the OCR; 3) Understand the difference between collaborating with OCR to develop policy based on Title VI, as presented here, and seeking redress through filing lawsuits, which has been the path taken by others to try to provoke enforcement of Title VI; 4) Understand the strengths and weaknesses of using this particular legal strategy to increase access to interpretation.
Keywords: Interpreters, Immigrants
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.