The Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs (OAPIA) provides District agencies with technical assistance and guidance on providing language assistance to Asian and Pacific Islander (API) constituents with Limited English Proficiency (LEP). It also monitors the performance of these agencies in providing this language access.

 

Since the Spring 2000, OAPIA has been involved with the Language Access with the launched of former Mayor William’s Asian and Pacific Islander Initiative which mandated 17 DC agencies in providing equal access to services for Limited English Proficient (LEP) residents.

 

OAPIA spearheaded the Mayor’s initiative by coordinating with 17 District agencies to develop and implement agency action plans that covered five areas needing improvement. Those areas were:

After the passage of Language Access Act in 2004, OAPIA entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Office of Human Rights (OHR), which has oversight of the Act. The MOU established OAPIA’s role as a consultative body to the Language Access Director and the Director of OHR to develop, update, and monitor the implementation of the Language Access plans of covered agencies.

 

OAPIA also supports District Agencies in their efforts to address the needs of LEP communities. It has increased the areas of the Agency’s work to address the needs of the LEP community. These areas include data collection, outreach, quality control, and the hiring of bilingual Public Contact Positions (PCPs) and multicultural sensitivity training.  Currently, OAPIA’s activities include:

 

For more information on OAPIA’s role in the Language Access initiative, please contact Neel Saxena.

 

For more information on the Language Access Act, please contact Aryan Rodriquez.