Language Access Coordinator

Language Access Coordinator

Overview
The City of Alexandria is a diverse community, with English, Spanish, Amharic and Arabic being the primary languages spoken in our City of over 160,000 residents. The Language Access Coordinator will oversee the development, execution, and expansion of the City’s Language Access Program. The Language Access Program will address the needs of but is not limited to the City’s primary languages, as well as for our Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities. The successful candidate will actively learn about, be involved in, and engage with our City’s communities in order to provide inclusive communications and community engagement for all Alexandrians, as well as those who work and visit our City.

This role supports the adoption of the ALL Alexandria resolution, introduced by the City’s Race and Social Equity (RSE) Office. It recognizes the need and importance of community involvement to identify, develop and implement policies in the pursuit of equitable outcomes; and resolves to adopt practices and policies centered on creating and ensuring racial and social equity. This position will coordinate regularly with the City’s Race and Social Equity Officer to ensure our Language Access Program is developed from a lens of cultural competence, extending beyond offering basic translation and interpretation services. This development aims to include an over-arching language access plan, staff and partner training(s), volunteer services, regular community initiatives, and public information updates.

Based in the City’s Office of Communications and Public Information (OCPI), the Coordinator will develop a language access plan for the City to fulfill our language access policy. Ideally, this plan will provide language access and cultural competency guideline(s) and criteria for the enhancement of our current language capabilities and training of City staff, contractors, and partners. The Coordinator will coordinate with the City’s Strategic Initiatives Officer on plan implementation and elevation of best practices relevant to the City’s understanding of language access, equity, and cultural competency. This coordination will include providing regular recommendations for innovative language access services.

As part of the Language Access Program, the Coordinator will serve as a resource to assist staff in understanding cross - cultural dynamics and strategies to ensure cultural competencies. These competencies will be developed in coordination with our RSE Office, and administered in the suggested format of a regular internal training series. The Coordinator will work with the City Manager’s Office (CMO) and Office of Human Resources to develop and administer the bilingual pay program for City employees, including the recruitment, training, professional development and retention opportunities of these employees.

This role will assure compliance with all applicable policies, rules, and governmental statutes (local, state, and federal) specific to all program areas, including Title VI Limited English Proficiency standards. The Coordinator will be expected to maintain a database(s) of training attendees, bilingual pay program participants, technical vocabulary standards, and regular requests for services offered through the City’s Language Access Program. This information will guide the program’s in-person and virtual language access services, as well as is expected to be regularly reported to City leadership upon request.

The Language Access Coordinator will ensure community input guides the development of the City’s Language Access Program. This will be done through the utilization of both new and traditional communications and community outreach methods to guarantee efficient, effective, and accessible engagement. New methods include but are not limited to the use of social media, digital outreach (email, surveys), virtual meetings and webpage resources. Traditional methods include but are not limited to community meetings, neighborhood canvassing, collaboration with City departments and community partners (Casa Chirilagua, Campagna Center, regional Faith - Based organizations, and more). This role will work with the Office of Planning and Zoning to support neighborhood and city-wide language initiatives and create a clear connection between community input and its effects on policy decision, infrastructure needs and financial considerations.

The Language Access Coordinator reports on a day-to-day basis to the Strategic Communications Manager in OCPI.

Additional Responsibilities:

• Oversee the budget related to the Language Access Program, as well as administration and evaluation of language services contracts and quality assurance.
• Assist in and assure the inclusion of the language accessibility and cultural competency of the City strategic communications plan, including but not limited to the ALL Alexandria Resolution, the City’s Language Access Policy, and other working City guidelines and criteria.
• Other duties as requested.

Essential Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Demonstrated ability to provide excellent customer service while communicating with people from diverse backgrounds in a culturally competent manner.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and written, and provide strong facility with outreach and communication strategies.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines simultaneously and switch between tasks quickly.
• Interest in, or dedication to, improving access to services for Non-English speaking, limited-English proficient, and Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities.

About the Office of Communications & Public Information:
The Office of Communications & Public Information (OCPI) develops, coordinates, and delivers meaningful and responsive communications and community engagement for the community and for City employees. OCPI develops and supports city-wide communications and community engagement program, including content on the City’s website, and provides guidance and direction to other City government communicators.

Minimum & Additional Requirements

To qualify for this position, applicants must have a bachelor's degree; at least three (3) years of lived experience in a related communications and/or community engagement role; OR, any equivalent combination of experience and training that provides the required knowledge, skills, and abilities listed above. This experience can include but is not limited to having a bachelor's degree in communications, public relations, political science, social work, social justice, sociology, psychology, organizational leadership, a modern language or other related field. Four (4) years of experience equivalent will substitute for a bachelor’s degree.

Preferred Qualifications

To be considered an ideal candidate, an applicant should also have extensive experience in the duties listed in this posting; prior experience in public speaking or developing presentations for training or teaching purposes; experience working in community organizing; fluency in written and spoken Spanish, Amharic, Arabic or American Sign Language (ASL); and certifications or similar training and evaluation related to transcription and interpretation.

Notes

Compensation and Benefits
The salary for this position will be negotiable and commensurate with the background and qualifications of the successful candidate. The City of Alexandria has a highly competitive executive benefits package, which includes annual leave, holidays and sick leave; a defined benefit retirement plan; health insurance, dental plan, life insurance, and long-term disability insurance; optional deferred compensation retirement plan; credit union membership; employee discount programs; tuition assistance; well-being rewards; and an employee assistance program.

Application and Selection Process
Applications will be screened against criteria outlined in this brochure. Interviews will be offered by the Department Director to those candidates named as finalists, with reference checks, background checks and academic verifications conducted after receiving candidates’ permission.

For more information, please contact:
Sandra Gibbs
Senior Talent Acquisition Lead
703-746-3777
Sandra.Gibbs@alexandriava.gov

Finalists will be subject to a thorough background check after receiving a conditional offer of employment.