Audit Report Of The New York City Department For The Aging’s Oversight Of Senior Citizen Centers’ Compliance With Their Agreements Regarding Limited English Proficiency

October 20, 2016 | SZ16-109A

Table of Contents

    Executive Summary

    This audit of the New York City Department for the Aging (DFTA) was conducted to determine whether the contracted senior citizen centers (the Centers) funded by DFTA complied with their contractual requirements to provide meaningful language access services to clients who are limited English proficient (LEP) and whether DFTA provided oversight to ensure that the Centers are in compliance.  This audit focuses on both DFTA and its 260 contracted Centers.

    DFTA’s mission is to work for the empowerment, independence, dignity, and quality-of-life of New York City’s older adults and for the support of their families through advocacy, education, and the coordination and delivery of services.  In Fiscal Year 2016, over 90 percent of DFTA’s $310 million budget was used to ensure that the Centers were in compliance and to community partners to deliver services to the aging population.  Over 60 percent of DFTA’s budget was used to fund the Centers.[1]  The Centers provide social and physical activities for their participants and most provide meals and snacks.  According to DFTA, the average daily attendance at the Centers was 27,812 for Fiscal Year 2015 and 28,416 for the first four months of Fiscal Year 2016.[2]

    Audit Findings and Conclusion

    This audit found that DFTA did not effectively oversee the Centers to ensure that they were in compliance with contract requirements mandating access to services by the LEP community.  Moreover, although DFTA as an agency has had a Language Access Plan in place since 2009, contrary to contract requirements, most of the Centers did not have individual Language Access Plans as recently as March 2016, the date of our last visit to the Centers.  Further, the Centers were not in compliance with additional contract requirements related to services for the LEP community.  In particular, we found that neither Language Line nor any other telephonic interpretation service was available at 27 (84 percent) of the 32 Centers we visited.  Officials at the other five Centers told us that they had recently initiated some aspects of language access services.

    We also found that the Centers generally did not have a mechanism in place to accommodate residents who do not speak the predominant languages in those communities.  Despite their contracts requiring them to “inform persons with limited English proficiency . . . of the availability of language assistance, free of charge, by providing written notice of such assistance in a manner designed to be understandable,” we found that 75 percent of the Centers sampled did not have the required multi-language signs posted indicating that free interpretation services were available.

    Audit Recommendations

    Based on the audit findings, we make the following three recommendations:

    • DFTA should ensure that all Centers adhere to their contracts and provide meaningful access to their services to the LEP population. At a minimum, DFTA should ensure that each Center:
      • Develops and submits a Language Access Plan to DFTA;
      • Contracts with a language interpretation service provider such as Language Line; and
      • Provides the necessary training to their staff on the use of this service.
    • DFTA should ensure that signs notifying seniors of the availability of free language assistance are prominently displayed at the entrance to each Center. This would minimize the chances of seniors visiting a Center and leaving without receiving needed services because of a lack of communication.
    • DFTA should monitor the providers of all DFTA-funded programs to ensure that they are adhering to the provisions of their contract regarding LEP requirements.

    Agency Response

    In its written response, DFTA agreed with the recommendations and stated, “Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your September 16, 2016 ‘Audit Report of the New York City Department for the Aging’s (DFTA) Oversight of Senior Citizen Centers’ with Their Agreements Regarding Limited English Proficiency (LEP).’  We would like to thank the Comptroller’s auditors for their recommendations: all of which have been fully implemented.”

    [1] Approximately 25 percent of DFTA’s budget is federally funded.

    [2] Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report Fiscal 2016.

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