Approaching language access through quality customer service

Quality customer service is critical for addressing resident needs and ensuring individuals have a positive experience. Below you will find tips for providing high quality customer service to LEP residents.

Customer service tips and tricks 

  1. Be patient: Using services like interpretation sometimes takes extra time, but the successful communication will undoubtedly be a rewarding experience.
  2. Slow down and speak at a normal volume: Residents will have different levels of fluency. Slow down your speaking when introducing new concepts.  Our instinct is often to speak louder when we are misunderstood, but a louder volume can seem aggressive and create mutual frustration.
  3. Show some emotion, but follow the resident’s lead: Many emotions are universal and can help with communications. However, there are differences in a variety of cultures, so stay within a resident’s comfort zone.
  4. Draw a picture to communicate (if applicable): Some people are visual, so even the most basic drawing can be more helpful than repeating the same thing over and over again.
  5. Ask for help: Use tools and resources within this toolkit, like telephonic interpretation services.

Case Study: Making Community Action Partnership Centers More Accessible

The Baltimore City Community Action Partnership (BCCAP) is committed to supporting all Baltimore households in the move toward financial stability, and the CAP centers are guided by six goals to build accessibility, exclusivity and trust with the Hispanic and Latinx community:

  1. Grow BCCAP staff capacity to support LEP families.
  2. Diversify BCAAP workforce to be more representative of the communities the City serves.
  3. Translate BCCAP documents for the public into Spanish.
  4. Strengthen BCCAP partnerships with organizations that serve our Hispanic and Latinx community.
  5. Make sure CAP centers are welcoming to our Hispanic and Latinx community.
  6. Through community outreach, increase the number of Hispanic and Latinx families that   BCCAP supports.

“We know that these goals are going to take time to implement, but we also have a sense of urgency because our families need support now. We want them to know that they can count on us.” 

- Daniela McDonald, Southeast CAP Center Manager, herself an immigrant from Colombia

Baltimore City’s rental assistance program is one area in which the CAP centers are committed to improving accessibility and community outreach. The Mayor’s Office of Children & Family Success, BCCAP’s managing agency, created a brief video in Spanish that walks residents through the application process for the program, from start to finish.

Designed for easy viewing on any device, the video is just six minutes long, and tells residents everything they need to know to get the housing stability support they need—and Daniela’s native Spanish and big smile make the Llenando tu solicitud: prevención de desalojo video especially welcoming.