Language Justice Specialist
11 days ago
Somerville
Job DescriptionStatement of Duties: As the Language Justice Specialist (LJS), you will work with the Deputy Director and Language Justice Coordinator in the City of Somerville to advance language justice goals for the City of Somerville, including the development and roll out of the 5 - year Language Access Plan. You will: • Advance training and knowledge of language justice concepts, protocols, and procedures for providing language access services;, • Triage and oversee daily language access service needs city-wide;, • Provide logistical and technical support for language access services city-wide; and You will work closely with the Deputy Director & Language Justice Coordinator to develop and implement the City of Somerville’s Language Access Plan and oversee day-to-day language access operations. This work is fast-paced, dynamic, equity-driven, and deeply collaborative. In this role you will: Provide Training, Consulting, and Coaching: • Serve as an internal expert on language justice best practices and guidelines, including: translation and interpretation services, plain language standards, strategies and resources for multilingual outreach, creating welcoming environments for linguistically diverse populations, and equitable civic engagement, • Coordinate collaboratively across various departments to ensure language justice is integrated into city events, opportunities, processes, and communications, • Provide individual and group coaching and consultation to City staff about language justice concepts and guidelines, • Conduct training with City staff on language access topics including: how, when, where, and why to provide language access services; plain language; language access resources and protocols; interpretation via Zoom, creating a welcoming environment, and others, • Assist in developing training curriculum and implementation plan, • Track employee training attendance, • Research training opportunities and resources, • Identify gaps in staff knowledge and work with the Deputy Director and Language Justice Coordinator to develop strategies to close gaps, • Manage interpretation and translation request tickets on a daily basis, • Review all requests for compliance with communications and language justice standards, • Provide feedback or gather additional necessary information or context for requests from requesting staff, • Triage requests and determine whether to assign requests to internal staff or language access vendors, • Request quotes from vendors for translation and interpretation projects, • Monitor project deadlines, • Manage Interpretation at Events, • Attend and serve as the logistical and technical point-person for interpretation for City events, • Create customized interpretation plans for all City events where interpretation is offered, • Share and coordinate interpretation plans with interpreters and City staff, • Implement interpretation protocols at virtual and in-person events, • Transport and manage distribution of interpretation equipment at City events, • Welcome event attendees and lead by example to create a friendly and inviting atmosphere for linguistically diverse constituents, • Research, develop, and disseminate language justice resources such as one-pagers, resource sheets, and guides to advance institutional training and knowledge of language justice concepts, practices, guidelines, and protocols, • Assist with development of internal training materials Education and Experience: • A bachelor’s degree in a related field, such as public policy, linguistics, sociology, racial and ethnic studies, social justice, and anthropology, • In lieu of secondary education, a minimum of two (2) years’ experience doing language access work, working in multilingual environments, working in the field of immigrant’s rights, interpreting (providing language access services), and/or designing and facilitating workshops and trainings. You possess knowledge, abilities, and skills in the following areas: • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Knowledge: You are knowledgeable about language justice concepts and practices; you have an understanding of challenges facing linguistically diverse communities; and you are familiar with strategies for clear, effective, and accessible multilingual communication., • Communication: You are a clear and effective communicator (written and oral) with a range of audiences; you are able to develop and adapt communications for diverse audiences and purposes; you exhibit empathetic listening skills., • Student Mentality: You are open to learning from others even when this tests your prior knowledge; and you are able to receive feedback and take necessary action on feedback., • Project Management Skills: You are skilled in organizing and facilitating workshops, presentations, trainings, community events, virtually and in-person; you are able to manage multiple tasks, prioritize, and balance short and long term responsibilities, • Initiative: You are able to learn independently, self-start, take initiative, and adapt to changes and challenges., • Relationship Building Skills: You are skilled at fostering collaboration and building trust with internal and external partners; you possess a high level of emotional intelligence; you are able to work cooperatively on a team., • Strategic Planning: You are an analytical and strategic thinker and you approach challenges with a problem-solving mindset; you identify and develop attainable action plans to achieve goals and benchmarks, overcome challenges, and leverage opportunities. Physical and Mental Requirements: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the position’s essential functions. Physical Skills Few physical demands are required to perform the work. Work effort principally involves sitting to perform work tasks, with intermittent periods of stooping, walking, and standing. Work may require some agility and physical strength, such as moving in or about construction sites or over rough terrain, or standing or walking most of the work period. Work requires lifting of objects such as interpretation equipment, office equipment, and computer paper (up to 30 lbs). Motor Skills Duties are largely mental rather than physical, but the job may occasionally require minimal motor skills for activities such as moving objects, operating a telephone, setting up presentation equipment, operating a personal computer and/or most other office equipment including word processing, filing and sorting of papers. Visual Skills Visual demands require constantly reading print and digital documents for general understanding and analytical purposes. Hours: Full-Time, work hours are flexible, but include evening and weekend work as needed Salary: $75,000.00 annualized, plus benefits Union: Non-Union FLSA: Non-Exempt Date Posted: August 18th, 2025 The City of Somerville is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, age, national origin, disability or any other protected category. Women, minorities, veterans, and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply. Auxiliary aids and services, written materials in alternative formats, and reasonable modifications in policies and procedures will be provided to qualified individuals with disabilities free of charge, upon request. Persons with disabilities who need auxiliary aids and services for effective communication (i.e., CART, ASL), written materials in alternative formats, or reasonable modifications in policies and procedures in order to access the programs, activities, and meetings of the City of Somerville should please contact Adrienne Pomeroy at 617-625-6600 x 2059 or . Pre-Employment Requirements for All Employees: • MA Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) clearance, • 4 weeks annual vacation for non-union positions. Union positions vary by contract. Please note, police officers are members of the SPEA union., • Medical insurance through the Group Insurance Commission (GIC) - 80% of premium costs paid by City, • Dental coverage low and high plans through Cigna, • Vision care through Vision Service Plan (VSP), • Long term disability through Sun Life, • Group and voluntary life insurance through Boston Mutual, • Health Care and Dependent Care flexible spending through Benefit Strategies, • Deferred compensation plans through a choice of three vendors, • Free, confidential services through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provided by E4Health, • Annual cancer screening & wellness release, • Somerville Retirement Pension System, • Tuition reimbursement, • MBTA pass program, • FREE Blue Bikes membership Powered by JazzHR DpE2hsyfAT