Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees - GCIR

Responding to changing demographics, the public and private sectors are developing new ways of communicating with limited English-speaking individuals. In 2007, nearly one in five Americans lived in a household that spoke a language other than English at home, yet meeting the needs for language services and English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction remains a challenge. Language assistance programs can benefit immigrant families and the broader community by improving public safety, health, education, and other important government functions. A growing number of state and local agencies have adopted language access policies over the past decade, but many struggled to implement them. The Annie E. Casey Foundation established the Language Access Practitioners Network in 2006, connecting otherwise isolated government practitioners that work in child and family serving agencies, as well as staff from mayors’ and governors’ offices who oversee immigrant-serving programs. This report builds on participants’ conversations on how public agencies can communicate more effectively with limited English-speaking residents and lessons learned from language access programs across the country. The report concludes with a check list for developing effective language access practices and further resources.