Orange County will begin providing public health notices, meeting agendas, and emergency information in Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Korean.
Supervisor Andrew Do drafted the language access policy to ensure that everyone in Orange County receives public health information and emergency alerts, regardless of what language they speak. County staff will present the execution plan at the Board Meeting on April 28th.
“Everyone needs to receive emergency alerts and public health notices,” said Supervisor Andrew Do, who serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Supervisors. “Orange County is a diverse community, and we want to make sure everyone is included.”
On Tuesday, the Orange County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved Supervisor Do’s proposal. Under the new language access policy, all Board Meeting agendas as well as emergency and public health notices, infographics, and flyers on all County websites will be translated into Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, and Chinese.
Nearly half of Orange County adults (46 percent) speak a language other than English at home, according to the 2019-2020 Orange County Community Indicators Report. The top four languages spoken in Orange County other than English, by population number, are: Spanish (1,050,770), Vietnamese (202,435), Chinese (107,515), and Korean (98,425).
“We want to communicate with everyone, no matter where you were born or what language you speak,” said Vice Chairman Do, a first-generation Vietnamese immigrant.
Orange County is one of most diverse regions in the world, with nearly 1 million residents foreign born.
“Given the current circumstances surrounding the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, it is of utmost importance and urgency to ensure that all Orange County residents have access to all information, programs, and services – including all COVID-19 related information – in languages other than English,” said Supervisor Andrew Do.
