Language Access Issues

The Washington State Coalition for Language Access (WASCLA) is a new organization -- including people from legal services, government, and social service agencies -- working to improve access to services for people with Limited English Proficiency (LEP). Goals include:

• Educate groups about legal requirements to provide interpreters
• Develop quality control standards and requirements for ongoing training
• Secure funding to support interpreter services and training
• Increase the pool of qualified interpreters and develop a centralized database
• Develop a model curriculum for interpretation services and cultural sensitivity training
• Develop a model curriculum for training for service providers

WASCLA's website, still in development, has some interesting resources:

• Policy statement by Northwest Justice Project, including guidelines for working with interpreters.
• A model protocol for working with victims of domestic violence who have Limited English Proficiency, from the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
• An annotated resource list about cross cultural communication.

Filed in: interpreters, access-to-justice, cross-cultural-communication, Washington-State-Coalition-for-Language-Access, Washington-State-Coalition-Against-Domestic-Violence, , Northwest-Justice-Project