Dear John, 

In this week’s newsletter:

• Spotlight: African Communities Together Launches Language Access Co-Ops

• PIF Partners File Civil Rights Complaint

• Communications: Working Group Meets February 21

This month PIF is highlighting our partner organization African Communities Together (ACT), for their innovative new program AfriLingual. Language access is one of the most significant barriers immigrant families face to accessing critical services. To support the African diaspora, ACT partnered with other New York organizations to launch an innovative co-op style translation service. Members of New York’s African community were trained and tested in language proficiency, as well as medical and trauma-informed interpreting. The AfriLingual co-op launched in August and offers language interpretation and translation services in Arabic, French, Dendi, Ewe/Mina, Fulani, Mandingo/Bambara/Dioula, Moore and Wolof. Such worker co-ops could eventually help meet demand for professional, high-quality language services in the courts, education, health care, and the private sector, while providing skilled employment and business ownership opportunities to immigrant communities.  

Learn More About AfriLingual

PIF partner National Immigration Law Center filed a complaint with the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) , alleging that at least 13 states are conducting Medicaid ‘unwinding’ redetermination processes in a manner that fails to provide people with limited English proficiency the language assistance required by federal law. NILC worked with state partners, including PIF member orgs, to document states’ noncompliance. We applaud this collaborative effort by national and state partner organizations. Deficiencies cited by participating advocates and service providers included the failure to provide reasonable access to call center support and insufficient translation of written resources. The complaint urges immediate enforcement action to mitigate the ongoing harm.

Read the Complaint

PIF’s Communications Working Group is scheduled to meet next Wednesday, 2/21. This month’s meeting will focus on opportunities to work together on communication related to:

• Welcoming people seeking asylum and other new arrivals
• Covering uninsured people in immigrant families, as Medicaid returns to routine eligibility assessments
• Helping journalists do a better job with safety net access issues as part of election coverage

Working group calls are open to PIF member organizations. Please reach out to Ed Walz if you're interested in learning more about the Communications Working Group, and use the link below to join the coalition

Click Here to Join the Comms Working Group

Visit our website at www.pifcoalition.org

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