Understand how language support resources are priced and how you might build those resources into your budget to improve accessibility.

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At least 67.3 million people in the United States speak a foreign language at home [2018, Center for Immigration Studies]. Here in the Indianapolis area, at least 13.5% of Marion County residents use a language other than English in their homes. [U.S. Census Bureau]

If your organization serves the public, you’ve likely come into contact with community members who have language barriers—immigrants, refugees, and the Deaf and hard of hearing community.

To better serve the community and open up your doors to more consumers, your organization can create a language access plan to be prepared to welcome and serve this large segment of our population. But the funds for this have to come from somewhere, right?

Join us on November 10th from 12 – 1 p.m. to:

• Understand how language support services are priced
• Learn how you can build a budget for language access planning
• Avoid common pitfalls of translation pricing and understand how to choose a vendor
• Consider building language resources into your grant proposals

🎥 We will be recording the session and sending a link of the recording out to all registered participants.

🤟 An ASL interpreter will be provided for this event.

🤝 This event is free to attend, but we request that you consider an optional donation to our nonprofit partners for this event, Immigrant Welcome Center.

Click here to register at Eventbrite

More about the speakers:

👤 Graham Melendez, Community Impact Coordinator, Immigrant Welcome Center

Originally born in Cusco, Perú, Graham Melendez arrived in the U.S. at the age of eight and moved to Indiana in 2007 after receiving a scholarship from the University of Evansville. Graham has been involved with the Immigrant Welcome Center (IWC) since October 2017, beginning his service as a volunteer Natural Helper and then becoming a staff member in May of 2018. Graham currently works as IWC’s Community Impact Coordinator, building relationships with community partners and members of the immigrant community. Graham works hard to transform these connections into resources for immigrants and refugees to utilize to survive and thrive as they navigate the U.S. system. He currently serves on the Board of Directors at LifeJourney Church, Grassroot Projects, and Healthy Families, as well the Governance Committee of Mayor Hogsett’s Community Food Access Advisory Commission. In 2020, he was nominated by community leaders and featured in the “Indianapolis Star” for his work as one of the top 10 Latinx helping our community thrive.

👤 Tiffany Hanson, Manager of Strategic Partnerships, LUNA Language Services

With a background in marketing and public relations, Tiffany Hanson has found a niche in community engagement and outreach, with a talent for developing mission-based collaboration opportunities. Tiffany is known in the community for being resourceful, strategic, organized and effective, and for being intentional about integrating thoughtfulness and inclusion into everything she does. Tiffany spends a majority of her daytime hours representing LUNA Language Services, engaged in opportunities to further language access initiatives for immigrants, refugees and members of the Deaf and hard of hearing communities. LUNA believes that language access is a human right, and that information, resources and opportunities should be made accessible to our community members from all language backgrounds. In her personal time, Tiffany volunteers with fabulous organizations like the Diversity Roundtable of Central Indiana, Indy Maven and the Indiana Latino Expo.

👤 Una Hartzell-Baird, Director of Translation, LUNA Language Services

Una Hartzell-Baird is LUNA’s Director of Translation. She oversees the daily operations of the translation department. Her background working as an interpreter, sales representative, and project manager gives Una excellent experience working with language service professionals. Una was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and relocated with her family to Indianapolis in 1995 through a refugee resettlement program. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Public Affairs: Nonprofit Management at the IUPUI Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs in 2009 and her Master of Public Affairs in 2010.