Trying to get detailed language data at the city level

Dear Lance,

I've had a chance to look at C16001 for Buena Park CA and it seems to show  that the only 2 languages that would be needed to satisfy the 5% criteria in the statute are Spanish and Korean. (The 5 year + population is 78074 (ACS 2022 1-year period). That should correspond to a threshold of about 4000 non-English speakers.  The "other languages" category is less than 4000 so you don't need to look for other groups.

I looked up your linkedin profile and according to your profile you have a BS in computer science.  I have a computer program that will adjust PUMS data based on tract level ACS detail tables to produce tract level "synthetic" data.  You can then produce a tract level table using any PUMS variables. While I would be reluctant to use the program in a legal context,  the program would give you a "leg up" on what languages you might be dealing with.  Go to dorerfoundation.org and using the links at the top of the page go to the "Contact Us" page.  Send me an email using that address and we can communicate via email.  The mission of Dorer Community Service Foundation is to provide consulting to nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations and governments.  So far all of our consulting has been pro bono.   I should be able to help you out with possible approaches to your problem.  I have used an earlier version of the program on a project with the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Best,

Dave Dorer

Yeah, losing Table B16001 at the tract level as others have referenced has really hurt my department's ability to address our LEP obligations. The release of B16002 at the tract level with the last ACS did add back a little detail so that was a very slight glimmer of hope.

Recently, I came across Table B05006 (Place of Birth for the Foreign-Born Population in the United States) and I've wondered about using this table's information in concert with B16002 to "reverse engineer" what languages we might want to focus on when all we have to go on is a generic geographic description (Indo-European, etc). Since they're all based on samples of a 5-year timeframe, it's fraught with issues of comparison but when you're stuck between a rock & a hard place with no alternatives, why not?...

Steve

Dear Steve,

What is the city ?  If you can send state name county and csd (county subdivision) or place (fips and name) or csd (name and fips)  I can run it using PUMS data and my Small Area Estimation program.

Best,

Dave

I would take David up on this.  The Census uses a very complex Bayesian approach to estimate languages with small numbers of people who speak them, and are Limited English Proficient.  Small area estimation is the only way to do this.

Dear Steve and Andy

I assume that this is CA in which case the criteria is languages spoken by 5% or more of the population. Hopefully you won't have to "drill down" too far on the PUMS LANP variable which has over 100 different languages.

Dave

Hi David, I'm actually up in Washington State and work for Snohomish County Public Works (30 miles N of Seattle). At the urging / pressure of our federal designate (WSDOT), we've expanded our Ttile VI analysis beyond just what is required under NEPA to essentially include all or our projects so we look at everything from intersection improvement projects up to countywide programmatic projects.

BTW, I'm not the person actually responsible for the Title VI analysis. I'm a GIS Analyst tasked with supporting that role so I'm responsible for updating the data and maintaining a web map based application we use to provide access to the information.

Thanks. I think I have what we need now from C16001, though not to the granularity we'd like. I hate to extrapolate from the census tracts since they seem to be a blunt instrument. I wish we could get more data about everything at the block or block group level.

I'd be careful about making assumptions based on place of birth. A person born in India has at least 160 languages to choose from; someone from Bosnia could speak any one of seventeen languages, including German and Italian. Even someone born in Canada could be Francophone and low-English proficient.

Hey, I freely admit that this is a flawed approach but, when you have identified a LEP population that speaks an "Indo-European Language", how can you realistically respond as required by law? There's no translation available for "Indo-European" so what do you do, because you have to do *something*.

The examples you cite are all valid but it seems to me that, in my Indo-European example, examining which Indo-European origin populations are represented in the area of interest, and then identifying which majority language they speak is a good faith attempt at satisfying the requirements of LEP under Title VI.

This is why I found and joined this site was to see how others are actually addressing this. When you're at the end of the line, we get a lot of Moses coming down the mountain with 10 Commandments telling us that we should do X & Y but it's devoid of additional guidance of "ok, you must do X & Y and here's how you accomplish it given the lack of specific information.."

Anyways, that's for voicing those concerns. I did not express it directly in my post but I have thought about that as a definite con with my idea.

Dear Steve

I'm working on an R function that creates an LEP table for a Place or CSD. The table contains all the languages for the PUMS LANP variable that occur in the PUMA.  180+ potential languages;

What is the city/town (CSD or Place) I have that you state fips is 53, It sounds like you need a county.  Can you send the FIPS code. For a city/town  I need the Place FIPS

or the county & CSD fips codes.  If you want me to run the entire state contact me at

info@dorerfoundation.org

If you want the whole state we will need to execute a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) laying out the ground rules.  There is no charge.

The program seems to run.  I'll include the function in the next release of the "PAT" package.  I'm testing the function/program right now.  I need to test it on a county with multiple PUMAs.

  dorerfoundation.org/software.

Since you are a government you can use the program (free to government agencies and 501(c)(3) organizations)

You can us the program but be aware:

# ADDITIONAL DISCLAIMER #
# #
# This software is intended for educational, research and reference #
# purposes only. The user should use their judgment in evaluating any #
# results or conclusions produced using this software. The user is #
# advised to verify any results produced by this software by reviewing #
# other independent sources of information. #
# #
# The Dorer Community Service Foundation Inc makes no warranty that #
# this software is error-free or as to the accuracy, completeness, or #
# suitability for any use, or as to any result arising from its use. #

Dave

Dear Steve,

I have the necessary FIPS codes:   State 53 county 061.  There are 1771 census tracts.  This will take about 2.5 days using my desktop machine.

Please email to discuss -- we can zoom if needed.  I have an account.

Dave