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PAGE 60 Providers acknowledged that racial and cultural responsiveness calls for knowledge of diverse populations, as well as in-depth consideration of how to deliver congruent services. They also connected this to a broader positive impact on clients: “We’re thinking about culturally appropriate food as well. I think we sometimes get so unjustly fixated on making sure that the most basic needs are met that sometimes we don’t get to those next levels that are equally important to folks to make sure the sort of tentacles of colonialism—how much someone can eat, the types of food they can eat— are going to go unaddressed and sort of be able to try to get to that next level, while also making sure that those basic food security needs are met. It also goes a long way toward mental health and emotional health. Folks don’t feel like they are ‘less than’ because of the food choices they feel forced to make, so that we can invigorate the conversation with some dignity in terms of the types of food that we make available.” LINGUISTIC RESPONSIVENESS Table 23 shows the language spoken at home among people over the age of 5. Notably, only half the population in Dublin spoke English at home. A majority of those who did not speak English at home spoke Asian languages (27%).xi Many people living in Pleasanton also did not speak English at home (41%). As in Dublin, a majority (21%) of these people spoke Asian languages. Individuals who spoke Spanish at xi Asian and Pacific Island languages categorized by the ACS include Chinese; Korean; Japanese; Vietnamese; Hmong; Khmer; Lao; Thai; Tagalog or Filipino; the Dravidian languages of India such as Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam; and other languages of Asia and the Pacific, including Philippine, Polynesian, and Micronesian. ENGLISH SPANISH OTHER INDO- EUROPEAN ASIAN- PACIFIC ISLANDER OTHER POPULATION OVER AGE 5 (DENOMINATOR) Dublin 50.0 5.1 16.1 27.1 1.7 64,522 Livermore 75.3 11.4 5.0 7.5 0.8 82,292 Pleasanton 58.6 5.7 14.1 20.9 0.8 75,776 Tri-Valley 62.4 7.8 11.2 17.5 1.1 217,605 Alameda County 54.0 16.0 8.4 19.8 1.8 1,579,078 California 56.1 28.3 4.6 9.9 1.1 37,105,018 Table 23. Language Spoken at Home, by Percent Source: US Census Bureau ACS 5-year 2017–2021 Note: Percentages are proportions of the given geography’s population that is over age 5. home represented a notably smaller proportion of the total population in the Tri-Valley (8% of all people over age 5) as compared to Alameda County (16%) and California (28%). Livermore was the municipality with the largest percentage and number of people speaking Spanish at home in the Tri-Valley (11%; 9,381 people). Figure 45 depicts the location of language-isolated households in the Tri-Valley. These households are defined as those in which no one 14 years old and over speaks English only or speaks a language other than English at home and speaks English less than very well. There are areas across the Tri-Valley where more than 14% of households are language-isolated, including in downtown Livermore and Pleasanton, and between Dublin and Pleasanton. These data highlight the diversity within Dublin, Livermore, and Pleasanton and the need for providers who reflect community demographics. Language represents a distinct barrier for services among non-English speakers and those who speak it as a second language. This was a challenge to completing paperwork for services: “Specifically what we’re talking about with language… I think what it comes down to is the fact that some of the papers that families have to fill out aren’t translated in their language, or it’s harder to access certain paperwork to be able to explain the processes to families.” EASTERN ALAMEDA COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES NEEDS ASSESSMENTSS Page 118 of 554