(Courtesy Latinos in Virginia Empowerment Center)
The Latinos in Virginia Empowerment Center launched a Spanish/English interpreter bank June 1 for monolingual Spanish-speaking victims of violence in Virginia.
The bank is the first of its kind in Metro Richmond and will serve the entire state of Virginia.
LIVE Center, a Chesterfield-based nonprofit, began as a grassroots organization in 2008 with a focused mission on supporting Spanish speaking victims of violence, said Gabriela Telepman, the LIVE Center community relations coordinator.
Telepman said that as the organization grew, members saw a need for interpreters among community members.
LIVE Center provides education, advocacy and support resources for Spanish speaking victims of violence, ranging from legal, medical and individual assistance.
One example of this involved the organization feeding an estimated 400 families in the Greater Richmond region, including Henrico, since last July by creating a culturally specific food pantry during the pandemic.
Roughly 6% of the population of Henrico is classified by the U.S. Census Bureau as Hispanic or Latino.
Advocacy services, which sometimes include translation between Spanish and English, encompass different skills than interpretation, Telepman said.
‘Never amplify the trauma’
Tomiko Tamashiro Pardo, the center’s language access coordinator, said interpreters were able to restore the autonomy of victims of violence by being specially equipped to remain neutral.
Pardo, an interpreter herself, explained that interpreters would assume a different role than advocates when providing trauma-informed services for victims of violence. Interpreters are conduits of messages and do not make decisions on behalf of clients, she said.
“Our cardinal rule as an interpreter team is to never amplify the trauma,” she said. “Everyone is going to be not just skilled, but they’ll also be walking into any situation knowing that this is a very vulnerable moment in this person’s life.”
Telepman said she had noticed a particular problem in Virginia where people felt they had no access to interpreters in situations where a third party may be crucial to a survivor’s well-being.
For example, someone may need to rely on a child or spouse to interpret complicated procedures when reporting an instance of violence, Telepman explained. Simultaneous bilingual interpretation is difficult, and could potentially be spun or paraphrased without the victim’s knowledge when the interpreters are family members who may be involved in the abuse themselves, she said.
“That can really be the difference between someone going to jail or having to leave their country or sometimes even life or death,” Telepman said regarding extreme cases of victimization.
Pardo echoed this sentiment, citing the risk that could arise when bilingual people or advocates are asked to interpret on behalf of Spanish-speaking victims.
Nationally, violence against Spanish-speaking people has been rising in the past few years.
According to a 2020 report released by the FBI, 14.1% of the nearly 5,000 single-bias hate crimes committed in 2019 were classified as anti-Hispanic or Latino bias. One in three Latina women have experienced domestic violence, according to the National Latin@ Network.
A large barrier of getting support is language, Telepman and Pardo said.
“What happens is that a lot of the time, [bilingual] people are not impartial,” Pardo explained. “There is a high likelihood that they’re making decisions on behalf of the survivor about what is being said and what is being heard.”
Decisions made on behalf of clients would take away their right to autonomy, Pardo said.
“[Survivors] were already subject to violence that was probably bolstered by [language] power dynamics,” she explained. “The fact that bilingual people can navigate spaces because of their ability to communicate verbally is a privilege right and sometimes without thinking about it we might wield that privilege irresponsibly.”
It’s essential to ensure violence is not perpetuated after a victim breaks silence, Pardo said, because that act alone could be incredibly difficult. Additionally, people may not be able to report violence in the first place if there is inadequate language access, she said.
‘Taking that extra step to make sure no victim’s voice is unheard’
Pardo emphasized that the interpreter bank was unique because of its ability to be trauma-informed and culturally knowledgeable in legal settings with which victims may interact, such as law enforcement and social services.
Telepman said the bank was inspired by an existing interpreter bank launched by Ayuda, a Washington D.C. nonprofit that provides legal, social and language services to low-income immigrant populations in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
Pardo said the bank is in the process of completing a trauma-informed interpreter training this month.
Language resources and a condensed version of the Ayuda interpreter bank training were used for the LIVE Center training, Pardo said. The center’s interpreter bank also developed a glossary that specializes in victim services, Pardo said.
Pardo hopes to have at least five people available and ready to utilize their interpretation skills, she said.
The bank is also available to victim service providers that primarily operate using English, such as emergency shelters, victim witness groups and child advocacy centers.
Pardo said the bank had aimed to reach 20 victim service providers, a goal which was met last week.
She added the organization saw a growing interest in the interpreter service since its pilot launch. Agencies in need of interpretation services fill out an application and email it to hola@latinosenvirginia.org.
Telepman encouraged victim services agencies to reach out to the interpreter bank.
“It is taking that extra step to make sure that no victim’s voice is unheard despite what language they speak,” she said.
The bank operates during 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. office hours, but the goal is to operate on a 24/7 basis once the interpreter team grows, Pardo said. The LIVE Center also operates a 24/7 Spanish hotline.
The LIVE Center’s services are free and confidential. People affected by violence that need access to Spanish/English interpretation services can make an appointment by calling (888) 969-1825 from any part of Virginia.
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