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(5 <br />Spanish Speaking Employees <br />The Departments surveyed employ 503 full-time employees. Several Departments <br />use Spanish- speaking employees to bridge the language gap. The 17 Departments <br />who responded to the survey had 39 Spanish-speaking employees. These <br />employees have not, for the most part, been formally assessed as to their Spanish <br />speaking abilities. The measure of their ability to speak Spanish has been self- <br />determined. Some Department Heads have sent potential employees to be <br />evaluated for Spanish speaking ability through the, Chapel Hill Institute for Cultural <br />and Language Education, CHICLE and some Department Heads have attempted to <br />determine employees knowledge of Spanish themselves. There are currently no <br />Department Heads who speak Spanish fluently. <br />The Departments surveyed estimated that they serve an average of 430 Latinos a <br />week. Over the course of a year those same Departments serve an average of <br />20,640 Latinos. Large numbers of Latinos are being served by a total of 39 Spanish- <br />speakingstaff members. Of these staff members, 13 self- identified as beginners; 9 <br />conversant; 4, proficient; and 13, fluent. <br />In order to assist Departments in hiring bilingual/bicultural individuals and <br />developing the Spanish language capacity of current employees, the Department of <br />Human Rights in conjunction with CHICLE has developed an LEP Assessment Tool. <br />This tool has been reviewed throughout its development by frontline Spanish <br />speaking employees and is designed to assess an individual's ability to speak and <br />comprehend Spanish. Specific scripts for Departments requiring specialized <br />vocabulary have been created to assess comprehension for those Departments. <br />Employees are placed in one of four Spanish speaking ability categories. Each <br />category is accompanied by a list of recommendations for advancement to the next <br />level and appropriate service activities for employees at each level. In addition, the <br />tool is designed to assess the cultural competency of individuals. (Attached as <br />Appendix III). The annual cost of administering the LEP Assessment Tool is the salary <br />of the LEP Coordinator approximately $ 36,000.00. <br />13 <br />