RSS - Language Access: Translation and Interpretation Policies and Practices
Subscribe to our Language Access: Translation and Interpretation Policies and Practices RSS feed using your favorite RSS reader: Subscribe 
This webinar focuses on the ever-greater relevance of state and local language access policies in today’s rapidly changing federal policy context, highlighting findings from a recent MPI report.
U.S. states and localities are increasingly enacting policies to make sure that language barriers do not prevent people from accessing government information and services, boosting service effectiveness and the ability to connect with residents. This report examines this trend, and the role of state and local policies against the backdrop of a changing federal policy landscape.
Language barriers create challenges not only for individuals with limited proficiency in English but also for state and local governments that need to be able to effectively communicate with all members of the communities they serve. This report offers one of the first in-depth examinations of how U.S. states, counties, and cities have designed and implemented language access measures to address these challenges.
President Trump’s executive order proclaiming English the country's official language marks a major shift in federal language access policy—revoking longstanding mandates and leaving federal agencies with broad discretion in provision of information and services in other languages. The action raises questions about how federal, state, and local agencies administering federally funded programs will adapt to ensure language barriers do not impede public access to essential services.
Testimony of Jacob Hofstetter, a Policy Analyst with MPI's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on March 21, 2025 at a public briefing on language access issues for individuals with limited English proficiency.
Ensuring people with limited proficiency in English can access government services for which they qualify and receive important public information is critical to the effectiveness and accessibility of state programs. This report analyzes the state of language access measures in Colorado state agencies and identifies opportunities to strengthen these efforts.
Ensuring that individuals with limited English proficiency have access to information and services in federally funded programs has long been a requirement. But providing effective language access, such as through translation and interpreting, remains an unmet goal and demands new strategies. This policy brief offers some next-generation solutions to achieve a mandate that is more than a half century old.
White House, Department of Health and Human Services, and national advocacy officials review executive-branch efforts related to language access provision, discuss upcoming actions, and explore opportunities to improve the provision of information and services in languages other than English in federal programs.
The Task Force on New Americans launched by the Biden administration represents an important occasion to deepen understanding of immigrant integration issues and to identify ways to address them. MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, which has long argued for the need to create such an office within the White House, has developed recommendations for the task force in key areas, drawing from its extensive record of research, policy analysis, and technical assistance.
How many Dual Language Learner (DLL) children live in your state, and what share do they comprise of all children under age 5? What languages are most commonly spoken in their households? Answers to these and other questions that are critical to the design and implementation of early childhood programs that reach all children equitably are presented in a series of state-level data fact sheets.
Dual Language Learners (DLLs)—young children with a parent who speaks a language other than English at home—benefit greatly from early childhood programs, but they also enroll at lower rates than their peers. This policy brief looks at federal and state language access policies that aim to make such programs more accessible to DLLs’ families. It also examines persistent gaps in participation and ways to address them.
On this webinar, MPI researchers examine common features and notable areas of innovation they found in a scan of state and local language access laws and policies in more than 40 states, along with practical insights that local governments can employ as they face growing linguistic diversity in their communities.
Many states and localities have language access laws and policies to ensure people who are Limited English Proficient (LEP) have effective access to essential public services and institutions. This report explores a wide range of common and unique features of these language access laws, highlighting how different jurisdictions have approached issues such as translation, interpretation, agency oversight, technical assistance, and community involvement.
On this webinar, MPI researchers examine common features and notable areas of innovation they found in a scan of state and local language access laws and policies in more than 40 states, along with practical insights that local governments can employ as they face growing linguistic diversity in their communities.
Whether driven by pragmatism, local laws, or federal civil-rights provisions, state and local governments and agencies across the United States increasingly have designed and implemented language access services (i.e. translation and interpretation) in response to growing Limited English Proficient populations. This commentary argues it is time for the federal government to follow suit.
A webinar examining aspects of the implementation at state and local levels of the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) that may limit immigrant integration, along with a discussion on strategies that may help ensure more equitable access for immigrants and refugees to services provided under the law.
Part of a series exploring issues likely to be addressed by the new National Integration Plan, this webinar, with perspectives from the cities of New York and Seattle and others examines possible recommendations on federal coordination of local government immigrant integration initiatives, including language access.
Part of a series exploring issues likely to be addressed by the new National Integration Plan, this webinar, with perspectives from the cities of New York and Seattle and others delves into possible recommendations on federal coordination of local government immigrant integration initiatives, including language access.
This awards ceremony honored the 2013 winners of the E Pluribus Unum Prizes, which provides $50,000 prizes to exceptional U.S. immigrant integration initiatives. The awardees took part in a panel discussion with White House and state officials, followed by remarks from Congressman Luis Gutierrez and U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar.
A webinar on language access contracting for federal, state, and local officials, agency administrators, and community stakeholders concerned with the oversight and implementation of language access provision.