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 Fire and Police have 9-1-1 priority access to interpreters.

Why this matters: Language access is a federal requirement for timely and meaningful access for limited-English-proficient and deaf or hard-of-hearing residents in municipal services. Officials said the work is intended to reduce reliance on family members or informal interpreters and to make interpretation and translated materials consistently available across departments.

Officials and contractors outlined remaining gaps and recommendations. Amy Kaufman, the language-access contractor who led the prior program under an earlier administration and returned to assist the current update, recommended a standardized, mandated training program for new and existing employees and a deeper training track for departmental language-access representatives. Kaufman said departments differed in how they define “essential public information” and recommended department-level determinations of vital documents to prioritize translations.

Kaufman also said the municipality should consider multiple telephonic interpreting vendors and issue a request for proposals to ensure redundancy and broader technological capabilities. She noted that the LanguageLink contract that the municipality relied on expired in early May and that staff worked with purchasing to establish a master service agreement to continue services while procurement options are developed.

Other recommendations she listed include better data collection and monitoring (discussed with IT), exploring compensation policy for bilingual staff who provide interpretation services, and creating a designated language-access coordinator or manager position to oversee ongoing outreach and departmental support. Kaufman said examples used by other cities include a pooled funding model where departments contribute to a central language-access fund.

Officials signaled the Assembly will get more detailed data and budget requests in the office’s full annual report early next year. Waller said the Office of Equity and Inclusion has also started exit and transfer interviews (about three months into that practice) to gather employee feedback that will inform future staffing and training needs.

Assembly member Anna Brawley asked about public engagement and social-media feedback; Waller said the office is using MuniWorks AK channels to humanize municipal roles and direct residents to more resources, but that deeper IT and funding conversations remain necessary.

The briefing included no formal votes or policy adoptions; presenters said they will return with the full annual report and specific budget requests.