Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) believes that limited English proficiency (LEP) should not be a hindrance to accessing the services and information the Agency provides. Without language access services consumers and workers and business with limited English proficiency could face substantial hurdles to knowing their consumer and worker rights; business owners could struggle to navigate the rules and regulations that govern commerce and the workplace in New York City, and potentially struggle to complete the license application process.

DCWP provides telephonic translation services to anyone requesting such assistance. Each month DCWP receives an invoice that records each time a translation request was made and general information in relation to each transaction, including the language requested and the DCWP division which made the request. This dataset is compiles these translation service invoices since January 2016, the earliest date this information is available.

This dataset was compiled from a financial security study conducted in 2013 by Department of Consumer and Worker Protection's Office of Financial Empowerment, in partnership with The Urban Institute. The dataset is published on the DCWP website and used for a web-based data visualization tool. More information about the data, the study, and the online web-application can be found on the DCWP website:
https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dca/CitywideFinancialServicesStudy/index.html

Source: Ratcliffe, Caroline, Signe-Mary McKernan, Emma Kalish, and Steven Martin. 2015. “Where are the Unbanked and Underbanked in New York City?” Washington, DC: Urban Institute.