Breaking Language Barriers: A Victorious Campaign in NYC

6 min read

TAKEAWAY 1

Expansion of Translated Languages: Advocacy successfully added four crucial languages to New York City's translation services, addressing the initial exclusion of African and Middle Eastern languages.

TAKEAWAY 2

Advocacy Impact on Legislation: Advocacy led to the codification of Language Access policy as Local Law 30 in 2017, showcasing tangible legislative changes.

TAKEAWAY 3

Improved Access to Vital Services: The campaign resulted in better access to vital services for thousands of immigrant New Yorkers, including languages like French, Arabic, Urdu, and Polish.

Good News

Funding Allocations

City Council allocated funds in FY23 for the development of the NYC Interpreter Bank and the establishment of interpreter cooperatives, totaling $2.2 million.

Worker Co-op Launch

AfriLingual, LLC, the first African language worker cooperative, successfully launched, providing 982 interpretation and translation service requests to 16 city agencies and CBOs. Languages represented included Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Korean, Urdu, Wolof, Fulani, and more.

Legislation Expansion

Governor Hochul passed legislation to increase the State languages, codifying and expanding New York's statewide language access policy to cover the top 12 most commonly spoken non-English languages, based on data published by the Census Bureau.

The Details

In 2017, New York City witnessed a pivotal moment in its commitment to language access with the passage of the Language Access Policy (Local Law 30). However, challenges persisted, particularly for immigrant communities speaking languages of limited diffusion (LLDs).

Barriers and Challenges:

Despite initial efforts, language access barriers persisted in both the city and state including the limitations of telephonic interpretation services and gaps in New York State's language access policy.

Proposal 1: Community Legal Interpreter Bank

The campaign proposed the establishment of a groundbreaking Community Legal Interpreter Bank (CLIB) to address the shortcomings of telephonic interpretation services. The CLIB aimed to recruit, train, and dispatch legal interpreters to city-funded immigration legal service providers, ensuring better language capacity and free services for immigrants.

SERVICE ENHANCEMENT:

  • CLIB aimed to address the inadequacies of telephonic interpretation, ensuring more accurate and sensitive support for complex legal cases.

COST-EFFICIENT SOLUTIONS:

  • A cost-effective alternative, overcoming financial barriers associated with telephonic interpretation.

Proposal 2: Codification and Expansion

Advocates sought to codify the existing language access policy into legislation, expanding coverage from 6 to 12 languages. This involved a data-driven formula based on the recent arrival of Limited English Proficient (LEP) populations, providing a more comprehensive and dynamic approach to language inclusion.

DYNAMIC INCLUSION:

  • The proposal aimed to adapt to demographic shifts using recent arrival LEP data from the American Community Survey, offering a more responsive language inclusion strategy.

LOCAL VARIANCE ACKNOWLEDGMENT:

  • The campaign recognized the importance of local information, allowing counties to add languages based on regional variations.

Our History

Empowering Voices

Economic Empowerment Through Ownership: The campaign creates language co-ops, empowering immigrants with business ownership for economic upliftment.

HISTORY