Office of the New York City Public Advocate (NYCPA) Language Access Plan (LAP)
About the Office of the Public Advocate
The Office of the New York City Public Advocate (NYCPA) works toward results that ensure that all New York City residents are treated with dignity: We fight for equitable access to quality housing, education, and economic opportunity in a healthy, safe environment, and advance equity in the distribution of resources by holding city agencies accountable, as well as by engaging and empowering community members in order to confront institutions, drive change and achieve justice.
Language Access Plan (“LAP”) Purpose
Through the implementation of this Language Access Plan (“LAP”), NYCPA strives to make reasonable efforts to ensure individuals with limited English proficiency (“LEP”), who interact with and receive services from NYCPA, have equal access to language translation services provided by this Office. This plan establishes guidelines for NYCPA employees interacting with members of the public who may qualify as LEP individuals.
NYCPA recognizes that members of the public are entitled to interact with the staff using their primary language. To this end, NYCPA provides reasonable access to interpretation and translation services to LEP individuals who interact with public contact employees of this office. LEP services are provided regardless of the individual's immigration status; NYCPA employees will not consider an individual’s immigration status as a condition of receiving access to language access services. NYCPA assumes responsibility for ensuring that members of the public are made aware of its LAP and the language access services available under that plan. To that end, information on language accessibility will be available on the NYCPA website and signage will be posted at all NYCPA public-facing locations.
NYCPA prepared this LAP to comply with New York City Local Law 30 of 2017 (LL30). The City is governed by different language access laws. LL30 is one of these laws. LL30 is one of the strongest laws in the country and requires that covered city agencies appoint a language access coordinator, develop language access implementation plans, provide telephonic interpretation in at least 100 languages, translate their most commonly distributed documents into the 10 designated citywide languages, and post signage about the availability of free interpretation services, among other requirements.
This LAP explains how we make sure that people with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) have meaningful access to agency services, programs, and activities. In this Plan, individuals with LEP are understood as people who do not speak English as their primary language and who have a limited ability to read, speak, write, or understand English.
NYCPA is committed to ensuring that New Yorkers who have LEP are able to access information and services offered by the office.
Language Access Coordinator
NYCPA’s Language Access Coordinator (LAC) ensures interpretation and document translation services from various vendors are readily available to all Public Advocate Office staff in the event they are needed. The Language Access Coordinator for the NYCPA is Fabienne Muntu, who is the Office Manager. She can be reached at fmuntu@advocate.nyc.gov and 212-669-1836.
With our LEP population, NYCPA's Language Access Coordinator will work with the relevant staff to ensure the services are provided. Annually, NYCPA funds its agency specific purchase order to allow for language services to be provided as needed.
Our LAC ensures that all NYCPA public contact employees have a copy of the LAP and understand their responsibilities as outlined herein. The LAC ensures that public contact employees are trained to access our interpreter services and understand their responsibilities as outlined herein. The LAC ensures that members of the public are aware that they are entitled to interpretation services when interacting with NYCPA, regardless of their immigration status.
The LAC ensures that all vital documents distributed to the public are translated into the ten most commonly spoken non-English languages. The LAC ensures that all NYCPA employees in public contact positions have access to "I Speak" cards. And, the LAC ensures the most current version of the NYCPA Language Access Plan is posted on the office’s website and that all employees are notified when substantial changes are made to this LAP.
Language Access Details
Constituent Services
NYCPA’s Constituent Services Department assists with complaints and inquiries involving government-related services and regulations. From resolving housing complaints to combating abuse by agencies, the Office helps thousands of New Yorkers annually by improving transparency and accountability of City government. The Office has multilingual staff that can assist constituents in Spanish, Haitian Creole and Polish. The office uses an outside contractor to provide telephonic translation services in over 100 other languages.
When a LEP individual contacts the NYCPA, the public contact employee will make every effort to determine the LEP individual's primary language. It is critical that NYCPA public contact employees not make assumptions about an individual's primary language if it becomes clear that this person has limited English proficiency. This initial assessment can be done using "I Speak" language identification cards provided by the office or by asking for assistance from a certified interpreter or multilingual employee. This includes instances in which a member of the public calls NYCPA or comes in person.
NYCPA requests that constituents who are helped by multilingual staff or via telephonic interpretation take a brief online survey. The office tracks complaints regarding the language access services it provides.
NYCPA Website
NYCPA’s website can be translated via an online tool into over 100 languages. This applies to the entire website except for NYCPA’s Reports which are available as PDFs in English and can be translated upon request by contacting our Language Access Coordinator Fabienne Muntu at fmuntu@advocate.nyc.gov and 212-669-1836.
Training
NYCPA’s staff are required to be trained once per year in language access services provided by our Constituent Services multilingual staff and outside vendor for telephonic interpretation.
Language Access Complaints
NYCPA is committed to reducing or eliminating language access barriers. Because the office operates with transparency in its dealings with the public, NYCPA has instituted a procedure by which members of the public may file a complaint if they have not been provided with adequate language access. Complaints may be made, verbally or in writing, directly to NYCPA’s Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Officer using the contact information listed below. The EEO Officer will be responsible for reviewing, addressing and resolving all complaints. The complaint should include the following information: name of the person filing the complaint; nature of the complaint; name of persons allegedly responsible; requested relief or corrective action; and the name of any person or group assisting in filling out the complaint.
The EEO Officer will provide a response to the complainant within 14 days. The EEO Officer will contact the appropriate staff member to investigate the complaint, respond to the constituent, and if necessary, provide relevant guidance regarding language access.
NYCPA’s EEO Officer is Wesley Brown, who can be reached via email at wesbrown@advocate.nyc.gov, via phone at 212-669-7605 and via U.S. Mail at Office of the NYC Public Advocate, 1 Centre Street, 15th Floor North, New York, NY 10007.
Emergency Preparedness
NYCPA will continue to utilize all resources described in this plan during declared states of emergency to ensure priority messaging continues to be disseminated to LEP members of the community. This crisis communication includes, but is not limited to, announcements on our public-facing website. The Language Access Coordinator will continue to provide guidance to staff and contracted interpreters about the expectations and requirements to provide language access services during an emergency.
Data Collection
Our LAC annually collects all data related to language assistance services used and provided by NYCPA including, but not limited to:
- The number of instances in which Language Line Services, or other outside services, are utilized and for which language(s); and
- The number of instances in which a certified interpreter is utilized and for which language(s);
- The number of instances in which a multilingual NYCPA employee is called upon to provide language assistance, and for which language(s).
- The number of complaints received regarding provision of language services.
Updates to to this LAP
NYCPA continually seeks to improve the coverage, relevance, and efficiency of its language access services. In our ongoing efforts to provide robust and effective language access services, the LAC will periodically evaluate and monitor the LAP to ensure that the needs of the community are being met. The LAC will evaluate the LAP on a regular basis to determine whether updates are necessary. If changes to the LAP become necessary, the LAC will immediately amend the LAP and make efforts to ensure appropriate implementation of those changes. Additionally, NYCPA will assess the Plan every three years to make sure that it is in compliance with federal, state and local law.
Dated: August 26, 2025