2017 NYC Language Access Campaign
Codifying local law 30, successfully demanded expanded translation mandates for a truly inclusive NYC.
In 2016, New York’s Language Access policy, included among its “top six Limited English Proficient languages” Russian, Korean, Bengali, and Haitian Creole, it did not include French, Arabic or any of the indigenous languages spoken by African New Yorkers. In effect, the entire continent of Africa as well as the entire Middle East region were left out of the City’s Language Access Policy.
We started advocating asking for the the City to codify its Language Access policy. In response to our advocacy, the New York City Council voted in 2017 to codify the Executive Order as Local Law 30 and expand its citywide languages of translation from six to 10, with the addition of four languages: French (critical for New York’s large Francophone African immigrant communities), Arabic, Urdu and Polish.
As a result of this advocacy, vital services became more accessible to tens of thousands of immigrant New Yorkers from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.