One Week Down: Celebration, Language Access, and Collaborative Family

Let me begin with celebration. Today I am celebrating the end of a beautiful first week that I had been awaiting with much anticipation. As the week progressed, I grew more and more aware of how much I love the workplace environment at Ayuda and the ways that I am invited to contribute to the wonderful work done there.

I am the Language Access Program intern and a lot of the work that I do involves recording and updating Ayuda’s contacts in various language communities in the metropolitan area. This week I worked on editing interpreter request forms used by law firms and nonprofit organizations that are in need of interpreters. I am also responsible for attending weekly team meetings dedicated to generating ways to improve and expand the Language Access Program’s outreach. This summer I will be assisting in planning an interpreter training that will be taking place in early Fall. My responsibilities include reaching out to existing contacts, researching contacts within the Spanish and Arabic language communities, and keeping team members informed of upcoming tasks and deadlines.

From this internship, I expect to learn a great deal about nonprofit management, application for grants, community outreach, and being a contributing member of a team. The members of the language access team work in close proximity with one another and trust that they can count on one another. I was very happy to see how collaborative the environment is at Ayuda; though this makes sense considering that language and legal access are both equally important in giving immigrants a voice.

The highlight of my week was looking over software used by Ayuda to keep track of their impact and the types of cases handled. As I looked on with my supervisor Marilyn, I was very moved to see the way that Ayuda directly impacts the immigrant community in the services that they provide; particularly those served by Ayuda’s Victim Services Interpreter Bank which helps to ensure that a language barrier does not stand in the way when a victim of crime needs help to recover. Another highlight in my week was hearing so many different languages spoken in the office throughout the day. I have also loved adventuring out into Washington D.C.; the more time I spend here, the more I see myself living and working here one day. One wonderful week down, excited for more to come.

– Sophie Leruth (Class of 2019)