City officials are drawing up recommendations for improved language services aimed at the city's immigrant communities. Those include a so-called "language-access plan," to make sure city services and written materials are available in the many languages spoken across the city.
Federico Rios is the city's immigration and integration manager and addressed the city council Monday night.
"We're really talking about standing up a plan that would ensure that whenever we show up in diverse communities, we come recognizing the language needs of those communities and providing services and resources to address those needs appropriately in the language that is spoken," Rios told the council.
Other recommendations include:
- Hiring more multilingual staff for customer service jobs
- Recruiting city staff who speak languages other than English to help with community relations
- Setting up a Spanish-language City Leadership Academy to develop future leaders.
- And boosting diversity on volunteer boards and commissions.
The recommendations come after a special Charlotte City Council committee met nine times in recent weeks with different immigrant communities. The committee will bring recommendations to the city council next month.
