COMMUNITY SURVEY PROJECT PERCEIVED QUALITY OF SOCIAL SERVICES IN RELATION TO LANGUAGE AND CULTURE bienvéni Bienve nido Bienvenue Willkommen Dzieñ dobry hosgeldiniz Mabuhay Bem Vinda welkom Welcome

TYPE OF SURVEY Instrumentation Used Statements requiring a scaled response ranging from agree to disagree. Survey Type & Sampling – Stratified Non-probability Convenience & Quota Sampling – we attempted to survey individuals with 3 different language preferences: 10 English, 10 Haitian Creole, 10 Spanish. Our actual and final count was: 11 English speakers 5 Haitian Creole speakers 6 Spanish speakers

COMMUNITIES SURVEYED Survey AreasNumber of RespondentsPercentage Liberty City1150% Coral Way314% Little Haiti627% Florida City29% Total Responses22100%

DEMOGRAPHICS - AGE 42% (N=8) of respondents were between 35 – 45 years of age. CategoryOrdinal Value Youngest25 Oldest75 Mean42 Median41 Mode (2 of each)26, 41, 42, & 50

Place of OriginNumber of Respondents (N=22) Percentage United States1567% Haiti28% Belize15% Dominican Republic15% Guatemala15% Chile15% St. Thomas15% DEMOGRAPHICS - PLACE OF ORIGIN

DEMOGRAPHICS - LANGUAGE PREFERENCE & ABILITY

DEMOGRAPHICS - EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

SURVEY QUESTIONS 1. I think it is fair to expect someone to speak my language at government services, community agencies and organizations. 86% Agree 2. I think is fair to expect printed materials at government services, community agencies and organizations to be available in my language. 77% Agree 3. I have been refused, or given limited assistance at government or community agencies because of my language. 73% Disagree 4. Discrimination does not include language preference. 55% Disagree 5. It is necessary to have a good command of the English language to access government services, community agencies and organizations. 59% Agree 6. Speaking my language is an important part of understanding my needs. 86% Agree 7. It is important for service providers to understand more about my culture than just my language. 55% Agree Possible Responses Agree Somewhat agree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat disagree Disagree

FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION – NUMBER & PERCENTAGE Questio n Agree - 1 Somewhat Agree - 2 Neither Agree or Disagree - 3 Somewhat Disagree - 4 Disagree QuestionAgree - 1 Somewhat Agree - 2 Neither Agree or Disagree - 3 Somewha t Disagree - 4 Disagree %5%0% 9% 277%9%5%0%9% 3 0%9% 73% 427%9%5% 55% 559%23%0%5%14% 686%5%0%5% 755%27%9%0%9% Number Percentage

RESEARCH QUESTION & SURVEY RESPONSES RESEARCH QUESTION: To what extent do people believe language preference and cultural competency are a factor in the quality of their social service experience? SURVEY RESPONSES: 86% of respondents agree that the quality of their experience depends on the service provider speaking their language. 55% of respondents agree, and 27% of respondents somewhat agree that the quality of service delivery is tied to the service provider understanding more about their culture than just their language. 55% of respondents disagreed that discrimination does not include language preference. Conversely, 27% of respondents agreed that discrimination does not include language preference.

RESPONSES CONTINUED 73% of respondents have did not feel their language preference had inhibited social service access or delivery in the past. 77% of respondents believed it is necessary to have a good command of the English language to access social services. 86% of respondents believed that social service providers should be able to accommodate their spoken language preference. 77% of respondents believed that social service providers should be able to accommodate their written language preference. SURVEY RESPONSES CONTINUED

NEEDS ASSESSMENT RESULTS In order for social service recipients to feel satisfied with their social services experience: 1. Service providers need to speak the client’s preferred language or have an interpreter available (86% of respondents.) 2. Printed materials must be available in the client’s preferred language (77% of respondents.) 3. Providers should know more about the client’s culture than just their language (55% of respondents.) Some client’s feel discriminated against when social service providers do not speak their language.

NEEDS ASSESSMENT RECOMMENDATIONS To meet the needs identified by the community survey – it is recommended that community planners and builders: 1.Circulate federal Limited English Proficiency (LEP) requirements to social service agencies within the community. 2.Make available to social service agencies in the community a list of translation, and live and telephonic interpreter services. 3.Create guidelines for client document creation and translation for agencies. 4.Develop and make available to social service providers a cultural competency training that focuses on client satisfaction in relation to language preference.

THEMES & REACTIONS Themes – Of Those Surveyed, Most: Thought social service providers should speak the client’s preferred language. Had not personally been refused or given limited social services because of their language preference. Disagreed that discrimination did not include language preference. Agreed that it was necessary to have a good command of the English language to access services. Agreed social service providers should understand more about culture than just the client’s language. Either spoke English or were bilingual. Had post secondary educations. Notable Reactions Expressed that services and printed materials should be in English because this is America. Haitian Creole speakers feel slighted when services and materials are offered in multiple languages but NOT Haitian Creole.