Governor Hochul Celebrates One-Year Anniversary of State’s Expanded Statewide Language Access Policy and New York State Office of Language Access

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the one-year anniversary of the expansion of New York State’s language access policy and the launch of the Office of Language Access. To ensure all New Yorkers can easily access state government programs and benefits — no matter their preferred language — the language access law mandates all executive State agencies providing direct services or benefits to provide interpretation services in any language and to translate vital agency documents into the top 12 non-English languages most commonly spoken by New Yorkers. Each agency has a Language Access Coordinator overseeing the provision of language access services and a Language Access Plan that is updated at least every two years. The Office of Language Access will publish in early October the first report of language access services provided by agencies since its launch.

"With the Statue of Liberty in our harbor, New York has welcomed immigrants from across the world for generations," Governor Hochul said. "Through the Office of Language Access, we made important progress to tear down language barriers and make critical services and resources more accessible to all New Yorkers who have come here to build a better life for themselves and their families."

New York State Office of General Services Commissioner Jeanette Moy said, “New York State is one of the most diverse states in the country, and there are millions of New Yorkers who do not speak English as their primary language, and the Office of General Services is proud to be part of Governor Hochul’s efforts to dismantle the language barriers that block many New Yorkers from easily obtaining government services that most of us take for granted. Every New Yorker deserves a government that provides equitable, fast, and efficient services. I applaud our Office of Language Access and our state agency partners for all they have accomplished over the past year by providing more equitable access to vital documents, information, and services.”

New York State Chief Disability Officer Kimberly Hill said, “I am so proud that the Office of the Chief Disability Officer has been a part of an incredible partnership with the Office of Language Access that will assist many New Yorkers in obtaining equal access to communication. My entire team would like to wish OLA a very happy first anniversary and we look forward to many more exciting collaborations in the future!”

Office of Language Access Executive Director Margarita Larios said, “We’re proud of our first year’s accomplishments in collaboration with State Language Access Coordinators and their Executive agencies. We are energized to continue working hard to ensure all New Yorkers have easy access to state government programs and services, no matter their English proficiency. We are focusing on raising awareness, getting feedback and empowering New Yorkers to seek the government services they deserve, regardless of their preferred language. Our ad campaign highlights our state’s unique language and cultural diversity, a key to why so many of us came to New York to make our dreams come true. I’m grateful to our partners across state agencies, community-based organizations, state and local governments, language services providers, and beyond. We still have a lot to do but are well on our way thanks to Governor Hochul’s and OGS Commissioner Jeanette Moy’s steadfast commitment to advance language justice in New York State.”

Housed within the NYS Office of General Services (OGS), OLA was created in October 2022 to provide the critical support, guidance, oversight, and coordination required to ensure the 46 executive agencies complying with the language access law (Executive Law Section 202-a) implement it efficiently and effectively. OLA and the expanded statewide language access policy was codified as part of the FY 2023 Budget, fulfilling a commitment made in Governor Hochul's 2022 State of the State agenda.

Among the milestones reached since the OLA was launched on October 3, 2022:

• In collaboration with the New York State Digital and Media Services Center (DMSC), OLA created an Office of Language Access toolkit, including the “Your Language Access Rights in New York State” brochure in 26 languages, “I Speak” card, landing page, and other materials to promote and facilitate the provision of languages access services. These materials were distributed to 46 agencies in July. An ASL interpretation video of this brochure is also available.
• Partnering with the Governor’s Office of the Chief Disability Officer, OLA created first-in-the-nation American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation video series of key documents from different agencies, to increase access to important information for the Deaf community with limited English proficiency who uses ASL. There are 40 ASL videos now available in the OGS YouTube channel, and the list continues to grow.
• Launched the media ad campaign “As a New Yorker...” providing the public with multilingual information and documents about the language access law, the process for filing a complaint, individual state agency Language Access Plans, and a list of agency Language Access Coordinators.
• OLA conducted 10 feedback sessions with more than 20 community-based organizations advocating for language access services from each of the 10 New York regions to better understand language access needs and inform programmatic planning.
• OLA supported covered agencies with over $300,000 in funding for the translation of vital documents.
• Collaborated with New York State Department of Health, Department of Labor, Department of Motor Vehicles, Department of Taxation and Finance, Division of Human Rights, Office of Medicaid Inspector General, and Office of Mental Health to add up to four languages to their list of vital documents translation languages, as provisioned in the language access law.
• Created a dashboard for New York State staff with data on non-English languages spoken at home by New Yorkers with LEP to support data-driven decision-making.
• OGS tripled the number of language service providers available on the state contract agencies can access to provide interpretation and translation services.
• OLA completed a state agency language access coordinator assessment survey and held quarterly language access coordinator meetings to determine opportunities for optimization and support of agencies.

The OLA is now launching its first statewide awareness campaign to provide New Yorkers with information about their rights to access state programs and benefits with the assistance of free language services. The campaign also promotes OLA’s statewide listening tour, which is scheduled to kick off in mid-October.

New Yorkers will see the multimedia awareness campaign in English and in the top non-English languages spoken statewide (Arabic, Bengali, Cantonese, French, Haitian Creole, Italian, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Urdu, and Yiddish), as well as American Sign Language. As part of the campaign, informative public service announcements will appear through mid-November on social media and streaming video platforms, billboards, and radio, as well as newspapers, magazines, and more.

Also, as part of its strategy to raise awareness and get feedback directly from New Yorkers about the state’s language services, OLA will conduct listening sessions at locations across New York this fall.

The OLA listening tour is scheduled to begin in Buffalo on October 14, with sessions planned also for Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Westchester, Long Island, and New York City. The final session will take place virtually on November 21.

Additional information about the listening tour, including times, dates, locations, and details on registering are available here.