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LYNN, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) – A city on the north shore is looking for translators to help residents who do not speak English understand the services that are available to them.
The City of Lynn is extremely diverse, with over 100,000 occupants who speak more than 50 languages. As the city’s first Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, Faustina Cuevas has launched a pilot program to hire translators to help bridge the gap.
“Right now we are looking to cover six languages,” Cuevas explained. “They are Arabic, Bengali, Khmer, Haitian Creole, Spanish and Portuguese.”
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According to ItemLive, the city is partnering with the New American Center for this project. However, they are struggling to find translators for both Khmer and Portuguese. The city is preferably looking for people from Lynn to fill the positions, or someone who has worked in the area and understands the community, demographics and needs.
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Translators are expected to work between 15 and 20 hours a week, both in person and virtually, for $25 an hour. In addition, a federal grant is providing $800,000 over the next three years for the program. Anyone interested can contact reach out to Natasha Soolkin at the New American Center.
WBZ's Carl Stevens (@carlwbz) puts this story into a language we can understand:
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