October 6- November 20, 2003

Do you interpret routinely for clients in your work?

Do members of the community often ask you to help as an interpreter?

Are you interested in becoming a community interpreter in legal settings?

The Legal Language Access Project (LLAP) is offering a 40-hour Community Interpreting Workshop series to equip those who would like to serve as community interpreters with basic knowledge about poverty law and interpreting in legal settings. These training workshops are also beneficial to those who interpret informally as ad hoc interpreters. The series will cover substantive areas of poverty law, interpreting theory, ethics, roles and responsibilities, and expectations and skills of the community interpreter. ! !

The Legal Language Access Project (LLAP) is a collaborative endeavor of several nonprofit legal service providers and community-based organizations serving immigrant and refugee communities in the East Bay. The mission of the Legal Language Access Project is to facilitate full and equal access to justice, legal and social services by low-income, monolingual or limited-English proficient individuals through the provision of affordable community interpretation/translation services.

The Interpreting sessions will be led by Angela Zawadzki, a certified judicial interpreter for the State of California and Federal Courts. A native of Colombia, Angela is fluent in English, Spanish, Italian, and French. Angela has taught language, rhetoric, and literature in various academic settings and has served on the faculty of San Francisco State University where she designed and taught courses leading to a certificate in court and legal interpretation. She also creates and delivers workshops on linguistics, community interpretation and specialized interpreting topics.

The Poverty Law sessions will be given by a number of East Bay Public Interest attorneys/advocates from such organizations as Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach, Bay Area Legal Aid, East Bay Community Law Center, Family Violence Law Center, Homeless Action Center, Law Center for Families, Legal Assistance for Seniors, Sentinel Fair Housing and Volunteer Legal Services.

When Mondays and Thursdays, 2:00-5:00 p.m., October 6 to November 20, 2003

Where Family Bridges, 168 11th Street, Oakland, CA 94607 – 2 blocks from the Lake Merritt Bart station, second floor classroom.

Eligibility to Apply

- Demonstrate a high level of proficiency (verbal and written, if applicable) in both English and another language.

- Demonstrate an aptitude for interpretation and/or translation.

- Commit to attend the entire workshop series of training on community interpreting and poverty law. (This may be waived for individuals who demonstrate adequate experience and/or training in interpretation and/or translation.)

Other considerations Space is limited to 20 people. Priority may be given to 1) less common or needed languages like Vietnamese, Mien, Hmong, Lao, Burmese, Cambodian, Farsi, Amharic, Punjabi. 2) staff of community-based organizations who serve low-income, monolingual or limited-English proficient clients.

Fees Fee level is based on the overall budget of the nonprofit organization for which you are a staff member or volunteer. If you are not currently working or volunteering with a nonprofit, please select fee level E. Fees will be due at the first workshop session.

Fee Level A (no charge) – Current LLAP interpreter/ translator; staff member/volunteer of a LLAP subscribing organization.

Fee Level B ($50) – Staff/volunteer of a nonprofit, annual budget less than $300,000.

Fee Level C ($75) - Staff/volunteer of a nonprofit, annual budget of $300,000 to less than 1,000,000.

Fee Level D ($100) – Staff/volunteer of a nonprofit, annual budget of $1,000,000 and greater.

Fee Level E ($125) – Government agencies, independent consultants.

How to Apply Please send a completed application (and a resume is also highly recommended) to Karen Hoy, Project Manager, by September 29, 10:00 a.m. You may send them by facsimile to 510-839-2435, by e-mail in a word document to LLAP@fambridges.org, or by mail to the address listed below. Applicants may be interviewed by phone. LLAP will inform all applicants as to whether space has been reserved for them in the workshop by October 3, 2003.

A certificate of completion will be issued at end of training to participants who perform satisfactorily on exams and attend all workshops.