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A group that has been translating information about Covid-19 and the state’s response to the virus for Vermonters who speak other languages is out of money to continue the effort.
Members of the newly established Vermont Multilingual Coronavirus Communication Task Force told Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., in a Zoom call Tuesday that they need more funding to continue translating information for Vermont’s refugee and immigrant communities.
The task force, which was established when the pandemic emerged in Vermont, coordinates the translation of important Covid-19 information for Vermonters whose primary language is not English. The task force has hired interpreters to translate the governor’s Covid-19 orders and it has produced educational videos about Covid-19 in various languages.
Task force members told Welch that the work they’re doing to make information about the pandemic more accessible to those who don’t speak English is essential to keep vulnerable communities safe.
“We really just feel it’s an equity issue,” Alison Segar said, a task force member and social worker with the Howard Center. “If I know what’s going on, everybody needs to know what’s going on.”
Segar said the task force has been operating on a “shoestring” budget. She said she found out Tuesday that the funding for translations has run out. “We have no more money at all,” Segar said.
The task force has been fueled by a series of small grants, coming in at a couple thousand dollars each, provided by different organizations and government entities, according to Daimeyon Williams, a task force member and the Multicultural Youth Program manager at Spectrum Youth & Family Services. Now, the group is looking for more funding — quickly — so that Vermonters who don’t speak English can still have access to important information.
Thato Ratsebe, an assistant director with the Association of Africans Living in Vermont, told Welch she’s frustrated that immigrants who don’t speak English as a first language cannot receive the same information about the pandemic at the same time as native English speakers.
But even if information comes a day or two late due to translation lag times, it could still be life saving.
“At least they still get the message everyone else has gotten and become responsible members of the community that can also not put themselves or others at harm,” Ratsebe said. “The reality is that the virus is still here. We’ve just been able to manage how it’s spread.”
Welch said on the call that he thinks the work the task force is doing is “tremendous.”
“I think it can be very isolating when the information that’s being broadcast is only accessible if you’re an English speaker,” Welch said.
But he didn’t respond to the repeated concerns about funding.
Before being pushed off the call by aide Thifeen Deen, Segar made a final request for help.
“I really want you to hear that … we’ve run out of money. As simple as that,” Segar said. “There’s more orders coming out… I’m really almost pleading with you to see what it is you can do.”
Deen blocked a response by Welch and said that she would follow up with Segar after the call to brainstorm funding sources that could come from the federal level.
Amila Merdzanovic, the director of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants Vermont, said in a follow up conversation with VTDigger after the meeting that the task force has reached out to Racial Equity Director Xusana Davis about opportunities for funding from the state level.
Gov. Scott’s Communications Director Rebecca Kelley said the Scott administration has not received a formal request for more funding for the task force and that the governor would need more information about the task force’s work before funding could be granted.
“We recognize the value of the work,” Kelley said. “But I can’t speak to the funding request without knowing what the amount would be or not knowing how it fits in with other initiatives we have going on.”
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