Language Access Lab celebrates completion of interpreter training class

In May 2025, The Language Access Lab successfully conducted its first Community Interpreter® Training, a 40-hour nationally accredited course held at the St. Joseph Community Health Foundation. Thirteen bilingual participants completed the training. These graduates represented six different languages, including Burmese, Portuguese, Russian, French, Japanese, and Farsi. The students brought a wide range of personal and professional backgrounds, with participants from education, healthcare, and manufacturing, and showed a strong commitment to serving their communities.

Over four weeks, participants engaged in intensive instruction and hands-on practice in ethics, interpreter protocols, cultural mediation, terminology, and interpreting skills across healthcare, education, social services, and government settings. One student remarked, “I will use what I’ve learned to communicate more effectively and professionally as an interpreter. The course gave me more confidence and practical tools that I can apply in real-life situations to better support the people I work with.”

The St. Joseph Community Health Foundation provided scholarships to reduce financial barriers so more students could access this training. Gratitude is extended to the employers and organizations that encouraged and supported the interpreters’ professional development.

The Language Access Lab’s mission is to build capacity for language access through advocacy, awareness, and interpreter training, fostering communities of practice to promote equitable communication and connection to vital services. Looking ahead, The Language Access Lab is dedicated to its next step: organization training. This training will help organizations understand the critical need for language access and its far-reaching impact, master the core components of a Language Access Plan and practical implementation steps, gain practical strategies for effectively working with professional interpreters and translators, and discover how to build sustainable language access programs. The Language Access Lab aims to continue building capacity for language access in Allen County by equipping community members and organizations with the tools to break language barriers and promote health equity.

For more information about how the Foundation supports training of medical and community interpreters at local non-profits, visit sjchf.org/interpretation.