Limited English Proficiency LEP Populations for Portland Factor

Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Populations for Portland: “Factor 1” Analysis Uma Krishnan Demographer, BPS, City of Portland

Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Population Who are the “LEP”? Individuals whose primary language is not English and have a limited ability to read, write, speak, or understand English Why is it important to know who they are? Language can be barrier to accessing important benefits/ services; exercising important rights; complying with applicable responsibilities |2

Determining Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Populations “Four-factor” analysis (Executive Order 13166, Dept. of Justice) provides guidance on accessing LEP: Ø Factor 1: The number or proportion of LEP persons eligible to be served by a program, activity or service; Ø Factor 2: The frequency with which LEP individuals come in contact with the program; Ø Factor 3: Importance of service/information/program/activity; Ø Factor 4: Costs vs. Resources and benefits |3

“Factor 1” Analysis What is “Factor 1 Analysis”? & What is a “safe harbor” provision? Ø The analysis involves assessing the “number” or “percent” of people over 5 years who speak English “not well” or “not at all”; important is the language each group speaks; Ø The analysis leads to a list of LEP languages; Ø The safe harbor defined as “five percent or 1, 000 individuals” is the criterion used in compiling the LEP language list; |4

Data sources for City of Portland’s “Factor 1” Analysis: Ø American Community Survey: 2008 -2012; Ø U. S. Census, “Detailed languages spoken at home and ability to speak English for the population 5 years and over: 2006 -2008; Ø Oregon Department of Education (ODE): 2012 -2013 School Enrollment data; |5

Key Findings § The population over 5 years is 550, 368 and make up 94% of the total City’s population. § 103, 441 persons over the age of 5 years or 18. 8% of the City of Portland population, speaks a language other than English at home. § 48, 176 persons over the age of 5 speak a language other than English at home and speak English less than “very well”. This population is 8. 8% of Portland’s over-5 population. § Spanish is the second most predominant language followed by Vietnamese in the third place. § Nine non-native English language groups with the City of Portland’s service area have LEP population of 1, 000 persons or more. |6

LEP languages list for Portland |7

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Questions for the group: Ø Should Laotian with the maximum possible value of 977 people be considered a LEP language? Ø How to focus attention on the Karen and Chukese communities? Ø How to raise awareness of “lesser known” languages? | 19