City of Dallas is expanding language access for Spanish-speaking residents

For years, Dallas residents complained about City Hall’s approach to serving Spanish-speaking residents and the lack of translation of citywide information.

That’s starting to change as Dallas’ Office of Equity and Inclusion and the Welcoming Communities and Immigrant Affairs Division launched initiatives to better serve Spanish-speaking residents. Now the city is heading in the right direction, community leaders say, but all departments need to work together to communicate more effectively and efficiently with residents.

In 2023, Dallas launched the 311 nonemergency mobile application in Spanish, held its first-ever town hall in Spanish, added funding for more translation services to its budget, and created a program in Spanish to help day laborers find safe jobs.

The city’s plans include eliminating the wait time between English and Spanish 311 calls, providing code violation notices in Spanish, holding more Spanish-language city meetings, and training all city departments on how to be language inclusive.

“When the average person in Dallas is able to respond to the city’s communication, and then also feel comfortable in going into any space, whether it be a library or cultural facility, and they know that they’re going to be heard, they’re going to be seen, and they’re going to be acknowledged by the way that we communicate, that’s an example of what success would look like,” said Liz Cedillo-Pereira, assistant city manager.

In Dallas Spanish is the second most spoken language and at least 42% speak a language other than English at home.

Translations and Interpretations

The Office of Equity and Inclusion serves as a consultant to other departments in how to address residents’ needs when it comes to language access, said Dr. Lindsey Wilson, director of the Office of Equity and Inclusion.

“We need to be language inclusive,” said Wilson.

In 2023, the Language Access Office received about 1,000 requests from several departments and council members to provide translation services, from press releases and educational information to text alerts, according to records obtained by The Dallas Morning News.

This year, as of March 31, there have been 220 translation requests. The average time for the requests to be completed varies depending on the type of document needed to be translated.

The city has two in-house Spanish translators to assist other departments with written translations. Additionally, the city has a contract with a vendor to provide translations into multiple languages.

Council member Jesse Moreno from District 2 said the city’s translation logistical system can sometimes take time.

“Unfortunately, I’m not too happy with the turnaround time; it takes too long and is a tedious checklist of making sure that there are multiple things submitted in order for translations to be provided back to our office,” said Moreno. “So that is something that I would like to work with our communications department.”

Language Access Director Adriana Portillo explained that city departments, including the City Council, can submit translation requests or interpretations to the Office of Communication, Outreach, and Marketing. From there, the departments collaborate to deliver the required product or service.

Moreno said he primarily relies on his bilingual staff to translate press releases and other information to communicate with his constituents.

Portillo stated that humans translate all press releases, social media posts, and flyers. The city does not rely on artificial intelligence for these tasks.

Need for bilingual employees

Dallas requires more Spanish-speaking employees who can effectively communicate with the community they serve, fostering an environment of trust, said Myrna Mendez of the community group Comadres Unidas de Dallas Y Más, a local group that focuses on providing information and resources for the Hispanic community in Dallas.

Mendez recalls requesting in 2020 a translator for a City Council meeting, and a city employee did not translate correctly what the community leader was trying to communicate, The Dallas Morning News Editorial wrote about the incident.

“Residents need to feel empowered and comfortable taking the microphone at city meetings,” Mendez said. “The city has slowly improved access to information for Hispanics in their preferred language, but they still have a long way to go.”

Mendez was at the Spanish-language town hall meeting hosted in October, and she said that meeting left her feeling better about how the city was approaching the Spanish-speaking community.

In 2023, the Department of Code Compliance addressed residents’ complaints about apartments in the Bachman Lake area by assigning Hispanic, Spanish-speaking code inspectors. This placement, as reported by The News, established a relationship of trust between residents and inspectors.

Dallas has a diversity dashboard showing the number of employees, the demographic breakdown and years of service. Of the 13,248 workers, 32.5% are Black, 31.6% are White and 29.9% are Hispanic.

Dallas established the Language Skills Assignment Pay program almost three decades ago. The program compensates certified bilingual city workers with a monthly stipend. The city has created its own process for certified employees, explained Portillo.

As of January, 1,633 employees receive the Language Skill Assignment Pay, and 1,416 are certified in Spanish. City employees must renew their certifications every two or five years, depending on proficiency level.

But, not all of these employees can host public meetings or serve as interpreters. Some are only fluent in having conversations with residents or assisting them with day-to-day tasks.

“We differentiate that from our public meetings because we recognize interpreting for a public meeting is a completely different skill set,” said Da Silva. “That’s why we do have a process where when a department reaches out to the communication department to get support with hosting a public meeting, that’s when we come in and say let’s talk about the language access part of it.”

More work to be done

The city can receive input from residents’ concerns through the Dallas 311 non-emergency system, which includes a phone line, a website, and a mobile app.

It wasn’t until the end of 2023 that the city upgraded the portal and app to be available in Spanish. Community groups have advocated for this enhancement for years.

Currently, the 311 Dallas Department has no method to measure how many requests are being submitted by language. The city’s communications department said that such functionality could be considered for future enhancements to the application.

Susana García, a North Dallas resident, said that she used the mobile app in Spanish, and the system is user-friendly and efficient.

“I would rather use the app than the phone line because they take forever to answer your call in Spanish,” said García. “It wasn’t until the end of January that there was a problem on my street, and I reported it and saw that the app was now available in Spanish.”

García said she now feels more comfortable with the mobile application available in her native language.

“I hope all the other city departments work more efficiently to provide information in Spanish. I understand some English, but when it comes to official documents or things related to the city, I’d rather have everything translated so I can feel confident in understanding the information,” Garcia said.

A goal to serve the Spanish-speaking population better is to eliminate the wait time between English and Spanish-speaking residents calling 311 by 3 minutes by the end of 2024.

Cedillo-Pereira said her goal is to implement a system of language access for each department in the next two years to better serve residents.