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i utjv i vi ~.. John Day From: Mike Murphy Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 9:38 AM To: John Day Cc: Aging Subject: RE: Resolution -English as the Offiaal Language Hi John, Although we have not had a significant demand for services from the Hispanic community to date, we anticipate that to gradually change within the next few years. We have translated a couple of our brochures that promote all of the services provided through the Senior Center to Spanish. We have not translated program specific materials yet. We have not encountered situations where language barriers became a factor more than 2 or 3 times and we have been able to resolve those issues with the assistance of DSS staff. Several of our funding sources (specifically - NC Department of Health $ Human Services, NC Division of Aging and Adult Services, NC Senior Games, National Counal on the Aging, NC Council on Developmental Disabilities, US Administration on P-ging) encourage creative/unique marketing efforts that provide outreach to multi-cultural residents. Bilingual marketing tools are recommended by most of these agenaes/organizations. In response to our efforts to identify the needs of the older Hispanic community, we have been told by some of the contacts that we had identified to be knowledgeable and/or in touch with that community that: • most of the Hispanic older adults that have relocated to Cabarrus County have come here to help take care of grandchildren while the parents work and are busy during the day and do not have time to participate in most Senior Center programs • most of these Hispanic older adults are relativey healthy and/or independent and do not have a need for support services (and are uncomfortable joining into, or don't understand the social -leisure -recreational programs that we offer) • most of the alder family members of the Hispanic residents that have moved to Cabarrus County that are frail and have identified needs for services/support did not move with the family and are still in their native homes and are being supported finanaally by the family members that are Uving/working here. We antidpate the demand for our services by Hispanic older adults to increase over the next few years because: • As the local Hispanic families become more secure/established here, they will bring their older family members that are frail and have identified needs for services/support here to live with them • The Hispanic older adults that are already here will develop more situations that may require the services provided by the Department of Aging as they get older. We also antiapate that they will become more knowledgeable and comfortable partiapating in the social -leisure and recreational programs that we provide as they establish friendships/relationships and develop a mare active social qfe. I hope this is helpful. Let me know if you need anything else. Mike From: John Day 1/lb/2007 _.,.~ ._,