McLennan County Language Access Toolkit

McLennan County's

Language Access Toolkit

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About the Toolkit

What is Language Access? Language in McLennan County Steps Toward Language Access Resources

ABOUT THE LANGUAGE ACCESS TOOLKIT

BACKGROUND

In May of 2021, United Way of Waco-McLennan County and the Child Well-being Movement partners released a report called "Are the Children Well?" which detailed the current condition of our community and its children. In response to the findings from the report, a Community Action Plan was created by residents of McLennan County and released in August of 2022. The plan includes community solutions and strategies that form a road map to address and improve current county conditions and increase positive outcomes for children and their families. One of those actionable steps was to "create a language justice plan which identifies prominently spoken languages of the community, details community needs, and provides ideas for implementation within local organizations to implement strategies." As such, this toolkit was developed with the support of United Way of WacoMcLennan County and the Hispanic Leaders' Network to satisfy that action step.

To learn more about the McLennan County Child Well-being Movement and Community Action Plan please visit: www.mclennancountychildwellbeing.org

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PURPOSE

This toolkit has come together with the primary purpose to provide easy, actionable steps for businesses and organizations to implement that will not only meet the needs of the community by increasing language access for non-native English speakers, but to help make your organization more competitive and profitable as well. We are hopeful that by implementing these steps to increase language access, you will be able to increase both client and employee recruitment and retention rates and expand internally while building productive relationships with employees and customers. We invite you to come on this journey with us as we support local efforts to advance language access throughout McLennan County.

Throughout this toolkit we will refer to ways organizations can increase language access; however, this term is intended to encompass businesses, companies, nonprofits, and the like.

in partnership with and This toolkit was developed by along with hundreds of McLennan County residents who shared their needs and aspirations for more language access in our community.

"Are the Children Well?" Report

Community Action Plan Language Access Toolkit

Multilingual Spaces

LANGUAGE IN MCLENNAN COUNTY

Prominently Spoken Languages in McLennan County

Growing Hispanic Population

1. English

2. Spanish

Top 5 languages spoken in McLennan County

3. Other Indo-European Languages

4. Other Asian and Pacific Island Languages

McLennan County Resident Voices

More bilingual services are needed so that more families can be involved.

Bilingual services are needed in the medical area and education. They could have interpreters available at these services that could help break the communication barrier.

5. Vietnamese

Language is undoubtedly the main cause of stress and doubts in the Hispanic community of Waco.

I would like there to be a change in my community where they speak more Spanish in businesses and schools

-McLennan County

Resident

For me, the biggest barrier is the language-- we need more people, signs, talks, conferences and support in Spanish.

-McLennan County Resident

-McLennan County Resident

-McLennan County Resident

-McLennan County Resident

WHAT IS LANGUAGE ACCESS?

Language access means providing non-native English speakers with reasonable access to the same services as English-speaking individuals. It is also a small part of language justice. 'Language justice' does not have one specific definition—it is an evolving framework that can be defined in a number of ways. It ultimately expresses the notion of respecting an individual's fundamental language rights. Thus, language access involves ensuring individuals can communicate, understand, and be understood.

It is also important to keep in mind that language justice is a process, not a destination, though language access can help project us in the right direction. There are many different journeys and conditions in which every organization practicing language access will learn to navigate.

With the above in mind, the Language Justice subcommittee of the Hispanic Leaders' Network has developed a definition for 'language justice' for McLennan County as follows:

Why is Language Access Important?

Over twenty percent of McLennan County residents speak a language other than English at home, meaning they most comfortably and confidently communicate in a non-English language. Consequently, many residents are reluctant to inquire and engage with resources and services that are provided only in English. Some residents have voiced that they would prefer not to seek out a needed service due solely to the language barrier. Therefore, opportunities to gain service from this population are missed when resources aren't provided. Though resources may be available, they are often inaccessible for those who find language as a barrier.

So how does

this affect your organization?

Everyone is affected by a lack of language support—not just the people who would be on the receiving end of services.

Language is vital for effective communication which is essential in any workplace to ensure goals are being met. Providing internal resources for employees will show you respect and value them culturally which can result in more productive workspaces and better work environments. Employee burnout is a real threat to the workforce due to some employees carrying a heavier load of continuously performing two jobs. This includes their own job, plus being an interpreter for the rest of the organization (oftentimes uncompensated). In addition, customer satisfaction can be affected and a loss of business may occur due to language barriers. Ultimately, the public image of the organization can be affected by the presence or lack of language support. Providing these services can help reach more potential customers and better support existing customers, employees, and the community at large.

"Language Justice is the commitment of our community to support an individual’s fundamental right to communicate in the language in which they feel most comfortable and confident by creating multilingual spaces that foster cultural pride, diversity, and equity."

STEPS TOWARD LANGUAGE ACCESS

Create a welcoming environment 1

There are several immediate steps organizations can take to begin creating more welcoming environments for all clients and employees. One of the simplest steps that can be taken is translating materials. In addition to this, organizations can place bilingual speaking staff members in forward-facing positions to welcome customers and respond to their needs in the customer's preferred language. It is important that these employees are compensated for their bilingual skills. Lastly, setting up an ondemand telephone interpreting service for clients to be able to access an interpreter can also provide a more welcoming experience for customers and relieve stress for employees. A suggested list of on-demand telephone interpreting services as well as suggested agencies to use for translation services have been provided below.

Translation & Interpretation Services:

Materials to consider for translation:

Websites

Signage

Intake forms & other paperwork

Flyers & Brochures

Social Media Posts

Bills & Notices

Although it is easy to get the terms interpreter and translator confused, and they are often used interchangeably, there is a difference between the two that becomes important when seeking out language services. The main difference is that translators work with reading and writing while interpreters work with listening and speaking. Interpreters work by listening to a conversation in one language (source language), and then speaking the same information aloud in the target language. These conversations can happen simultaneously or continuously. Translators read written text from a source language and then write it into the target language, ensuring the same messaging and information is replicated. It is vital to keep in mind that simply being bilingual does not qualify someone to interpret. Possessing a certification as a qualified interpreter is highly recommended to ensure correct messaging is being relayed to both parties and an ethical standard is being upheld while doing so. On page 13 of this toolkit you'll find a list of companies that offer interpretation certification courses, should you wish to provide the opportunity to your bilingual employees to become certified interpreters to help build more business opportunities.

On-Demand Telephone Interpretation Services:

LanguageLine Solutions:

https://www languageline com/

DTS Language Services:

https://www.dtstranslates.com/ phone-interpretation/

Boostlingo:

https://boostlingo com/

Translation Services:

ALTA Language Services: https://www.altalang.com/transla tion-services/languages/

Certified Translation Dallas: https://www.certifiedtranslationd allas.com/

SpokenHere: https://spokenhere com/written-languageservices/

Local Interpretation and/or Translation Services:

Check out HLN's resource page for local resources: https://hln-waco.org

Complete an organizational checklist

The second step toward language access is conducting an organizational checklist to better understand the type of contact your organization has with non-native English speakers (employees or clients). Your checklist should serve as a self-assessment that identifies language service needs and resources already available to help non-native English speakers access your benefits, programs, services, information, or other operations. Below are vital areas that should be assessed.

Organizational Checklist

Client Information

How many non-native English speakers are served by your organization monthly?

What percentage is this of your total client population?

What are the top 5 languages spoken by your clients?

Policies & Procedures

Does your organization track or record languages spoken by clients?

Does your organization permit family members, friends, children, or other persons to interpret for your client?

How are non-native English speakers notified of available language services?

Does your organization ensure that staff/volunteers are representative of the communities served?

Available Trainings

Does your organization require formal training before allowing staff, interns, or volunteers to provide language services?

Does your organization train staff, interns, and volunteers on how to work with a diverse clientele?

Does your organization offer to pay for interpretation certification courses for bilingual employees to become certified interpreters?

Points of Contact

Does your organization have bilingual staff, volunteers, or interns at different points of contact within your organization such as at the call center, reception desk, filling out paperwork, documenting a grievance, attending a meeting, or paying a bill?

Level of Interaction

Which points of contact have the greatest level of interaction and are most important for your organization to prioritize language services?

Does your organization provide language services (including translations) for information calls, outreach programs, public meetings and hearings, websites, written materials or complaints, and brochures?

Stakeholder Engagement

Does your organization solicit feedback from other community-based organizations and stakeholders, including clientele, regarding the organization's effectiveness and performance in ensuring meaningful access for all individuals (consider customer satisfaction surveys)?

Support for Employees

How many non-native English speakers work for your organization?

Does your organization provide compensation or stipends for staff, interns, or volunteers who use their bilingual skills at work?

Does your organization provide open enrollment information on employee benefits in multiple languages?

Get involved with local multilingual groups

Getting involved with multilingual groups and organizations can be a great opportunity to deepen your understanding of other cultures and build greater rapport with non-native English speaking clients, employees, and the community at large. We encourage you to seek out networking opportunities with these, and other multilingual organizations in our county. Cross-cultural understanding can lead to more effective marketing strategies to better reach various audiences, can help provide high quality, adaptable services to the community, and better understand and meet the needs of your employees.

Hispanic Leaders' Network

The Hispanic Leaders' Network strives to provide personal, cultural, and professional opportunities to inspire Hispanic leaders to serve and make a positive impact In keeping with their mission, they plan to provide opportunities for Spanish speaking individuals to participate in more community events By creating an interpretation device library organizations can rent out equipment to make their events multilingual In addition, they have plans to train and certify more Spanish interpreters in the community as well hln-waco org

Cen-Tex Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

The Cen-Tex Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is centered around developing partnerships that create economic growth, equip Hispanic leaders, and support our local businesses. The Chamber hosts an initiative called Escalando that provides classes and workshops for individuals hoping to start, or improve, their own businesses. These workshops are delivered completely in Spanish to eliminate the language barrier that is often present for Hispanic business owners. wacohispanicchamber.com

You can also visit facebook com/escalandowaco for regular updates

La Puerta is a faith-based community ministry organization that serves the Spanish-speaking community of Waco through empowerment and support in accessing the resources they need

Realizing that the Hispanic community's main barriers to access were regarding language, La Puerta was established to address those barriers. Their three main pillars are: educate, accompany, and advocate. La Puerta’s response to the language barriers is to provide an array of non-traditional programs that prioritize family support and technology, together with life skills training – all within a faith-based environment. They offer several classes such as ESL, Computer, Finance, Sewing, Cosmetology, Citizenship, affordable counseling in Spanish and in partnership with other organizations GED, Nutrition, Gardening and Diabetes classes. lapuertawaco.com

La Puerta Waco Inspiracion

Inspiracion is a non-profit organization that focuses on empowering at-risk Latino families to break the cycle of poverty by fostering parenting knowledge and skills that directly impact children’s development Using a two-generation approach, through the use of education, Inspiracion is committed to advocating for system change for the betterment of the Latino community inspiracionwaco org

Create a Language Access Plan 4

A Language Access Plan (LAP) is a document that strategically outlines how to ensure that your organization effectively communicates with non-native English speakers. Creating a plan will equip your organization with a roadmap for increasing language access for both your employees and clientele. Each plan is unique to its organization though there are certain elements (listed below) that are often present in all plans. Insights from the organizational checklist in Step 2 should be included in your LAP. Templates and examples of LAPs can be found in the Resources section on page 13.

Language Access Plan

Policy Overview

Define who the Language Access Coordinator will be State the organization's purpose for adopting the Language Access Plan State your policy for working with non-native English speakers

Organizational Checklist Insights

Client information Policies & Procedures Available Trainings

Develop policies and procedures

Language Services

Procedures

Notices

Points of Contact Level of Interaction

State information regarding use of interpretation services State information regarding use of translation services

Clearly explain the procedures that staff, volunteers, or interns should follow when requesting & utilizing each language service (interpretation or translation services)

Describe how the organization will inform their clientele of available language services and rights to those services

Examples may include signage, taglines, and "I speak " cards

Describe how the organization will train staff on its policies and procedures for providing language assistance services Include who will be trained and how often

Provide guidelines for how staff, volunteers, interns, and clientele can provide feedback regarding the LAP components

Provide plans for when and how the organization will monitor and update their LAP, policies, and procedures for continuous quality improvement and to ensure that all needs are met

10

Language access is a fluid process that has no true end point. It involves building and sustaining multilingual environments in our organizations. Therefore, as our community continues to grow and change, it is important to continuously evaluate organizational efforts and assess where there is opportunity to grow. Part of this process should include inviting regular feedback from staff and community members, and assessing the efficiencies and successes created by implementing your LAP so that it can be updated to match new goals. It is helpful to use your LAP as a framework for the components that should be reviewed annually. Below are some helpful questions/topics to help begin brainstorming elements for review.

Organizational Overview

Current non-native English speaker population in service area

Frequency of encounters with non-native English speakers as clients

Outcomes of implementing certain policies & practices

Client Satisfaction

How important was it to non-native English speakers that language activities/services were offered in their native language?

Availability of language resources and ease of access

Solicit feedback regarding actual experiences of accessing the organization's benefits, programs, information, or services

Employee

Whether staff know and understand the Language Access Plan and how to implement it

How often staff use language assistance services

Whether staff believe any changes should be made in the way services are provided or providers being used

RESOURCES

Websites for Interpreter Certification Courses:

The Community Interpreter Online: https://www.thecommunityinterpreter.com/the-community-interpreteronline

ALTA Language Services (Medical Interpreter Training): https://learn.altalang.com/online-medicalinterpreter-training/

Language Connections (Legal and Court Interpreter Training): https: //interpretertrain com/legalinterpreter-training/program-overview/

Language Connections (Business and Community Interpreter Training):

https://interpretertrain com/business-community-interpreter-training/program-overview/

Sample Language Access Plans & Templates:

https://www masshousingrental com/portal/server pt/document/12065/sample language access plan %28lap%29

https://www cpedv org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/language access policy template doc? 1475711550

https://esperanzaunited org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Toolkit-PDFs-Language-Access-PlanTemplate-1 pdf

https://www.unitedlanguagegroup.com/resources/developing-a-language-plan

https://cjcc.georgia.gov/document/lep-policy-non-profits/download

Requirements for Federally Funded Organizations regarding language access: LEP gov

REFERENCES

SimplyAnalytics (2023). SimplyAnalytics Community Demographics 2021. Retrieved March 8th, 2023, from SimplyAnalytics database. [online] https://app-simplyanalytics-com.ezproxy.baylor.edu/index.html

U.S. Census Bureau. (2021). American Community Survey. [Online] https://www.census.gov/data.html

Migration Policy Institute. (2014, February 18). Frequently asked questions on legal requirements to provide language. [online] https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/language%C2%A0access-translation-and-interpretation-policies-andpractices/frequently-asked

Morán-Acereto, L. (2022, June 1). Moving from language access to justice. De Beaumont Foundation. [online] https://debeaumont.org/news/2022/moving-from-language-access-to-justice/ Antena Aire. (2020, August 22). How to build language justice. [online] http://antenaantena.org/wpcontent/uploads/2020/08/LangJust BLaJupdate final-1.pdf

Alta Language Services. (2022, November 16). What is the difference between an interpreter and a translator? [online] https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/what-is-the-difference-between-an-interpreter-and-a-translator/ Federal Coordination and Compliance Section. (2019). Language access assessment and planning tool for federally conducted and federally assisted programs. [online]

https://www.lep.gov/sites/lep/files/resources/2011 Language Access Assessment and Planning Tool.pdf

GLOBO. (2020, February 3). How to design your ideal language access plan. [online] https://www.helloglobo.com/blog/language-access-planning

CMS Office of Minority Health. (2018). Guide to developing a language access plan. In Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. [online] https://www.cms.gov/About-CMS/Agency-Information/OMH/Downloads/Language-Access-Plan-508.pdf OCRDI. (2020). Language access plan worksheet. Health Resources and Service Administration. [online]

https://www.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/hrsa/about/organization/bureaus/ocrdi/language-access-plan-worksheet.pdf

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