Introduction

One of the strengths of our Capital City is our richness of diverse cultures and communities. The 2020 census identified that 15% of Saint Paul's population has Limited English Proficiency (LEP), and 28.8% speak a language other than English at home. Over 100 languages are spoken by children within the Saint Paul Public School system. In a culturally diverse city like Saint Paul, eliminating language barriers is one of the most important things we as a city can do to make sure ALL of our residents and visitors feel welcome, included, and important to our communal well-being. 

As an enterprise, the city is committed to meeting the needs of LEP individuals to create full access to our programs, services, and information. Within the Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity (HREEO), the Accessibility Division works with all city departments to ensure community members do not face barriers to accessing our programs, services, and information and to address and eliminate the barriers we discover.

Report Overview

All departments are required to make programs, services, and information available in languages other than English. The data on who and how we serve is collected annually from departments across the city. That data is the basis of the 2023 Annual LEP Report.

The city introduced a new LEP Plan in May of 2023. This plan was last updated in 2012. One of the most consequential updates in the plan was the inclusion of the Karen language, joining English, Spanish, Hmong, and Somali as our city’s most dominant languages. 

All city departments report their application of translation and interpretation services to the Accessibility Coordinator. The 2023 LEP reports show an extremely varied picture of LEP needs and the tools and contractors we use to address them. Reports detail usage of LEP vendors and services, and the frequency and cost of translation and interpretation for various languages. These reports, while valuable, highlighted opportunities for improvement on both the front end of public facing service, and the back end of training, ease of use, tracking, and recording the methods in which we engage the LEP public.

2023 LEP Report Summary

The city provides in-person and over-the-phone live language interpretation, including American Sign Language (ASL) to access city services, programs, and information. The city also provides written translation of city documents in any language upon request at no cost to community members. In 2023, city departments report that we had approximately 38,000 requests language services. Actual numbers are likely to be much higher as most departments do not yet have a detailed system for tracking in-person interpretation by staff.

Pie chart showing LEP spending across various city departments

Opportunities for Improvement

There are several areas of improvement we plan to focus on in 2024. 

1

Identifying Missing Data Points

Opportunity

Certain data points are missing from the current LEP report form that may provide helpful information in improving and streamlining our services. 

Solution

Future LEP reports will be changed to include not just the most frequent language and method used, but quantifiable data on how often each individual language was requested, and numbers on how often each translation and interpretation.

2

Multilingual Staff Usage Lacks Tracking

Opportunity

Most departments do not have a procedure for tracking multilingual staff interaction with the public even though almost every department reports the use of staff as a means for providing LEP service.

Solution

In the interest of accurate data and discovering the additional value that multilingual staff provide to the enterprise, the Accessibility Coordinator has requested that every department create or update an intra-departmental Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that includes, among other things, an internal method for tracking the frequency, length, and nature of staff performing LEP services for their department.

3

Issues with Phone Interpretation

Opportunity

Many departments have expressed frustration with the lack of choices when it comes to on-demand phone interpretation services and access to small and local vendors. There has also been concern as to the quality of translation services received.

Solution

The city currently uses the State of Minnesota’s list of qualified vendors to provide options in written translation, over-the-phone, and in-person interpretation services. The list is very lengthy and the wide variations in pricing between departments show that a more streamlined list of options is needed. This would not only make choosing and using vendors a simpler process but would also allow the city to work with vendors that provide a cost-effective product while prioritizing local small, women- and minority-owned businesses. In response, HREEO is publishing a Request for Qualifications to allow competing vendors to provide information on their services to city departments.

Conclusion

This level of diversity within our language demographics underscores the importance of a functional and user-friendly LEP program within our city departments. If we are to achieve Mayor Carter’s vision of a city that works for everyone, we must first address our varied language services and challenges, making sure that one’s preferred language is not an impediment to taking advantage of all the wonderful things that Saint Paul has to offer. 

As a city, we need to go ALL IN when it comes to meeting the needs of our community members, making improvements to our LEP response and in the ways in we track services, and implementing more streamlined and user-friendly tools and processes for city staff to seamlessly communicate across all languages. 

The City of Saint Paul continues to strive for improvements in both the LEP services we provide and the training, tracking, and reporting of these services. We are also exploring opportunities to incorporate new technologies to assist our frontline workers' ability to provide service in all languages and in our digital presence to disseminate all city information in all languages on demand. We understand our diversity is one of the great strengths of our community, and our LEP service should foster that inclusive spirit. We look forward to improving access citywide and advancing Mayor Carter’s vision of a city that works for everyone, no matter their preferred language.

Last Edited: January 30, 2025