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Anchorage officials brief Assembly on upgrades and gaps in municipal language access program
Summary
The Office of Equity and Inclusion told the Anchorage Assembly on Sept. 5 that the city has renewed and updated its language access program, cleaned up interpreting vendor accounts and designated language reps in departments, but needs stable funding, additional vendors and staff training to expand services.
Kim Waller, chief equity officer for the Municipality of Anchorage’s Office of Equity and Inclusion, told the Anchorage Assembly on Sept. 5 that the municipality has rebuilt its language access program and is preparing recommendations for staffing, funding and technology needs.
The update focused on recent operational work: identifying department language representatives, reopening or creating accounts with LanguageLink, and updating the municipality’s language access policy and website resources. Lupe Chavez, junior administrative officer for the office, said the team reviewed departments’ LanguageLink accounts that had not been updated since February 2018 and, over the past five months, “cleaned up” accounts so that outward-facing departments now have designated language-access representatives. Chavez said she also worked with LanguageLink to ensure Anchorage…
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