Southside Community Resources Center
4100 Hull Street Road
Richmond, VA 23224
Fax: (804) 646-8872
The Office of Immigrant and Refugee Engagement - OIRE
**Formerly known as Office of Multicultural Affairs
The Language Access Plan’s mission is to ensure that all residents have equal access to city services and information, regardless of their English language proficiency.
Key goals of the plan include:
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Promoting linguistic diversity: Celebrating and embracing the multitude of languages spoken within our City.
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Enhancing cultural competency: Providing training and resources to city employees to increase awareness and understanding of diverse cultures.
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Ensuring equal access to services: Implementing policies and practices that remove language barriers and ensure equitable access.
The City of Richmond provides free interpretation and translation services to residents when accessing city services.
To learn more, call our office at 804-646-0145 or email us at [email protected] .
The following, is the City's language access plan, a framework developed to ensure language barriers do not hinder individuals from accessing services, information, or participation due to their limited proficiency in the dominant language.
Key Elements of the Language Access Plan:
- Assessment to identify the most common languages spoken within our community and among service users.
- Outline of the range of language services available, such as interpretation (by phone, in-person, simultaneous, consecutive) , translation, language assistance tools.
- Establish clear and accessibly notices to inform LEP individuals of their rights and availability of language services.
- Provide comprehensive training for City employees to equip them with skills and knowledge to effectively communicate and interact with LEP individuals in a equitable manner.
- Implement mechanism for continuous evaluation and process improvement to include establishment of complaints process and revision of the plan.
You may view the Language Access Plan and its exhibits by clicking on the links below.
Click here to view Language Access Plan.
Is the City’s initiative and official portal for promoting information on how to access tools, services and resources in English and in other languages. The City of Richmond is committed to implement and ensure meaningful, affirmative, inclusive and purposeful access to City services to persons with Limited English Proficiency (LEP). We invite you to navigate this portal, where you will find information, tools and relevant resources about this initiative.
• iSpeak Richmond Language Identification Guide
If you have any questions about iSpeak Richmond or the Language Access Plan, please contact the City's Language Access Coordinator, Roxana Talavera-Denson, at 804-646-0932 or by email [email protected] during office hours.
If you wish to submit a complaint related to language access, please download and complete the form in the link below and submit it to [email protected]
Click here to view Language Access Complaint Form.
OIRE provides interpretation and translation services in Spanish free-of-charge to all City Departments as well as some trainings listed below.
- Language Access Services. OIRE staff provides Spanish/English interpretation during office hours. Interpretation in other languages and after-hours Spanish interpretation are available through United Language Group
- “Let’s Talk About” lecture series. OIRE hosts a monthly lecture featuring a guest speaker who will talk to City employees about his or her native culture.
- Workplace Spanish course. A 3-month course designed to help employees gain basic language skills in order to interact with Spanish-speaking City residents.
- Cultural Awareness Training. This is a course offered by OIRE designed to enhance employees’ ability to effectively serve Latino City residents.
- How to Work with Interpreters Training. This OIRE course is designed to instruct City employees in the protocols and ethical issues involved in providing services to Limited English Proficiency (LEP) residents using interpreters.
- iSpeak Richmond Orientation – This course is designed to increase awareness of and compliance with the Language Access Plan (LAP), HUD-COR Settlement Agreement, interpretation protocols, tools and documentation of interactions with LEP residents.
The following are tools for City employees to provide service to LEP customers.
- Click here to view the LEP Community Outreach Plan template
- Click here to view Language Access Service Request Form
- iSpeak Richmond Language Identification Guide
- iSpeak Richmond Card (Spa)
