The Emergency and Victim Services Interpreter Bank of Washington, DC David Steib Language Access Director Ayuda 1 Cortney Fisher Deputy Director DC Office of Victim Services DC Office of Victim Services

Learning Objectives Today, we will discuss: How the DC Office of Victim Services identified the need for a victims’ interpreter bank and subsequently founded the bank; The legal, ethical, and policy implications of appropriately assisting victims who are Limited-English Proficient (LEP), Non-English Proficient (NEP), or Deaf; Details regarding DC’s Emergency and Victim Services Interpreter Bank; Best practices for creating and running a victims’ interpreter bank; Questions that audience members may have. 2

Why: The Birth of the Need for the Interpreter Bank 3

The Birth of the Bank First, we live in DC… National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project (NIWAP)… 4 Forensic Nurses Advocates Lawyers … serving immigrant clients Funder … with an open mind Cultural Capacity and Language Access Initiative – Linking core service providers to culturally specific service providers Interpreters… That are trauma- informed

Obligations: Why Language Access? 5

Legal Obligations Federal laws o Rehabilitation Act Section 504- federally-funded programs must provide qualified sign language interpreters o ADA Title III- Public accommodations can’t deny services based on disability, including Deafness o Title VI- discrimination on the basis of language is unlawful national origin discrimination (with fed funds) - Visit lep.gov 6

Legal Obligations Local laws o City laws Legislative o DC Language Access Act (2004)- requires the DC government, and all contractors and grantees of DC government, to provide interpreters and translated materials o State laws Executive o Executive order # 26 – New York order covering state agencies Legislative o Equal Access to Public Services—Individuals with Limited English Proficiency Act (2002) – Maryland law covering state departments, agencies and programs 7

Ethical Obligations - Lawyers 8 ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct 1.4 Communication 1.6 Confidentiality 1.7 Conflict of Interest: Current Clients 1.8 Conflict of Interest: Current Clients: Specific Rules 1.9 Duties to Former Clients 5.3 Supervision of Non-Lawyer Assistants 5.5 Unauthorized Practice of Law

Ethical Obligations – Social Workers and Therapists 9 Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers Informed Consent Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct of the American Psychological Association Informed Consent Code of Ethics of the American Counseling Association - A.2.a. Informed Consent

Other Considerations Effective Public Policy o Ability of citizens to serve as private attorney generals o Avoiding a situation in which there is a subclass of people easily victimized Public Health and Safety o Epidemics o Crime Prevention o Responses to emergencies (fire, active shooter) Humane Treatment of Individuals o Healthcare ○ Trafficking o Disaster response Practical Response for Efficient Society o Many people need language access services while they learn English 10

Extent of the Need – National Data As of 2006, estimates from the Survey of Income and Program Participation indicated that nearly 10,000,000 persons were hard of hearing and close to 1,000,000 were functionally deaf (1 in 20 Americans). In 2013, 61.6 million individuals spoke a language other than English at home. About 41 percent (25.1 million) were considered Limited English Proficient (LEP). Overall, the LEP population represented 8 percent of the total U.S. population ages 5 and older. What is the need in your jurisdiction?

DC’s Emergency and Victim Services Interpreter Bank 12

Who do we serve? The bank’s purpose is to provide interpretation (spoken or signed) and translation (written) services to victims of crime seeking assistance in Washington, DC Currently, the bank is used by 28 nonprofit organizations in Washington, DC which provide: o Assistance applying for crime ○ Mental health services victims’ compensation ○ Case management o Emergency hotlines ○ Medical forensic exams o Crisis intervention ○ Emergency shelter/housing o Advocacy 13

What services do we offer? In-person interpreters in the following languages: 14 o American Sign Language o Arabic o Certified Deaf Interpreters o Spanish o Amharic o French o Italian o Korean o Mandarin o Morrocan o Russian o Swahili o Ukranian o Vietnamese

What services do we offer? Telephonic interpretation o Use a national telephonic interpretation company as a third-party vendor o More than 200 languages available o Video remote interpreting available for American Sign Language Translation of documents o Use a local nonprofit as a third-party vendor o More than 20 languages available 15

How to access services In-person interpreters can be requested through an automated, online scheduling system o Emergency or scheduled o Interpreter available within an hour o 24 hours a day, 365 days a year o Requesters are given usernames and passwords Telephonic interpretation is available by calling an 800 number and entering an access code o Interpreters are available within minutes o 24 hours a day, 365 days a year o Each nonprofit has a distinct access code Translation requests are submitted by to Ayuda o Translations available within a few days o Requests are processed only during business hours 16

Success Stories One provider used a mobile device to access remote interpreting services (American Sign Language) to help a Deaf victim check into a hotel where he would be staying after fleeing his home due to domestic violence One provider used an in-person Mandarin interpreter to ensure that a victim understood what was happening during a medical forensic exam One provider used the translation services to translate a page of important information on its website into the six languages most commonly encountered by the provider 17

Volume The bank has been in operation for nine months. In that time, the following services have been provided: 178 in-person interpretation sessions 84 document translations 259 telephonic interpretation sessions Top languages (in order): Spanish Amharic French American Sign Language 18

Best Practices 19

Interpreter Training and Qualifications Interpreters should already be familiar with the basics of interpretation and have some experience in the field o We require that interpreters have 40 hours of foundational training Interpreters should be proficient in English and in any other working language o We use a third-party vendor to test interpreters for language proficiency Tests are given over the phone or on the computer Interpreters should be trained to work with victims of crime o We offer a training called “Breaking Silence: Interpreting for Victim Services” 20

Breaking Silence Training Development 21 o Developed by an agency specializing exclusively in community interpreting and cultural competence matters. Specialization in trauma-informed interpreting Interviewed more than a dozen victim service providers in DC o Real world examples Experience developing and delivering interpreter training programs o Legal interpreting – “Language of Justice”

Breaking Silence Training Content 22 o A four day training including material on: Vicarious Trauma and Self-Care Cultural Mediation An overview of victim services o Preparing for difficult content, “bad” words, etc. Techniques to Promote Survivor Autonomy Ethics and Protocols in Victim Services o Confidentiality

Breaking Silence Training Availability Two sessions have been held in Washington, DC o October, 2014 o May, 2015 o March, 2016 (anticipated) Revisions are being made to the curriculum based on the pilot sessions o Should be completed by September 15, 2015 Curriculum and training materials will be available to the public o Manual o Workbook o Glossary o Trainer’s Manual (2017) o PowerPoint (2017) 23

Collaboration with Victim Services Organizations Challenges o Unfamiliar with the scheduling software and policies of the bank o Unaware of the need for services among the Deaf and LEP communities o Inexperienced in/suspicious of working with interpreters Pre-sessions Using first person statements Seating arrangement Everything will be interpreted (no side conversations) The interpreter’s role 24

Collaboration with Victim Services Organizations Challenges (cont.) o Habit of using client family members as interpreters (or other inappropriate methods of communicating) o Staff turnover o Dissemination of information within the organizations o Lack of will/resources to do outreach in the Deaf and LEP communities 25

Collaboration with Victim Services Organizations Solutions o Involve the community of victim services advocates in the creation and development of the bank o Grantees of the DC Office of Victim Services must report on their use of the bank o Designated points of contact from each organization 26

Collaboration with Victim Services Organizations Solutions (cont.) o Training Materials o Website (Ayuda.com) o Handouts Bank-sponsored training for points of contact from each organization Bank representatives visiting the organizations on-site o Interviews with staff o Presentations at staff meetings 27

Implementation and Replication 28

Implementation and Replication Identify your core service providers o What are their language access needs? o How are they currently meeting their language access needs? o Is that effective for them? Identify any culturally specific providers in your jurisdiction o Language access isn’t just about the language; it’s also about the culture o Can the culturally specific providers partner with the core service providers? Identify any interpreter networks in your jurisdiction o What training do they have? o What training are they interested in? 29

Implementation and Replication Convene the three groups into an informal or formal advisory team Issue a Request for Applications and make the award Recruit interpreters willing to do additional training in trauma and willing to be on call Use the Breaking Silence training… (psst: it’s free ) Use your VOCA money! 30

Questions? 31

Contact Information David Steib Language Access Director Ayuda (202) Cortney Fisher Deputy Director DC Office of Victim Services (202)