Germanic-speaking residents force Montour to adopt language plan
DANVILLE — Montour County has more than 5 percent, or 1,000, residents who are considered to "speak English less than well," requiring it to adopt a language access plan, according to SEDA-COG.
The plan is required by the Department of Housing and Urban Development because the county receives federal block grant funds, Glenda Ruch, of SEDA-COG, told the commissioners Tuesday.
According to the latest U.S. Census, 1,000 county residents — 5.4 percent of the population — speak the Germanic language in Anthony Township, she said.
If the county proposed a project that would directly impact them, it would have to take measures to make sure there were resources available to them, Ruch said, such as the possibility of needing an interpreter. "The county would decide what measures to put in place," she said.
She said SEDA-COG expects to have the language access plan completed by the end of this week.
Ruch said she knows the Germanic speaking people in Anthony Township do speak English well, but the statistics came from the American Community Survey, or the census, which triggered the language access plan.
