Yes! Click HERE to access our tax exemption documents on the IRS database. Americans Against Language Barriers is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) public charity.
Our mission is to improve the quality of life of those with limited English proficiency by working to eliminate linguistic barriers. Our strategies for doing so are numerous. Currently, we train multilingual individuals to become highly skilled professional medical interpreters and are working to connect volunteer interpreters to free health clinics in need, ensuring their patients have access to the linguistic they need services.
Limited English proficiency is considered to be a negative social determinant of health. Barriers due to limited English proficiency permeate through the life of an individual in the United States, especially when it comes to navigating our healthcare system. Americans Against Language Barriers was created by professional medical interpreters and students who observed the need for a social organization that advocates for those with language barriers, giving a voice to those who cannot speak for themselves.
If you become trained as one. The interpreter is a conduit of meaning between the patient & provider, allowing for a stream of communication; interpretation is highly skilled professionals and requires extensive training, being multilingual is simply the prerequisite.
Though the two are often used synonymously, they are two separate professions. Interpreters work with spoken or signed language while translators work with written language.
Americans Against Language Barriers will reinvest 100% of our revenue back into the organization to advance our mission of improving the quality of life of those with language barriers. Specifically, we will be supporting free health clinics, training professional medical interpreters, advocating for the civil rights of those with language barriers on the federal, state, and local levels, and more. Language barriers are a public health concern and we will work to address them as such.
Free clinics are the backbone of safety-net institutions in the United States, providing care to millions of uninsured Americans in need. Often with a small budget, free clinics may be forced to rely on ad-hoc interpreters, such as untrained volunteers, staff, or family members. This has been shown to increase the frequency of medical errors, which could jeopardize the health of the patient. Of course, free clinics would like to provide professional linguistic services to patients, but they do not often have the resources to pay for them. Americans Against Language Barriers would like to bridge the gap and ensure that all Americans have access to linguistic services regardless of their insurance status.
Americans Against Language Barriers: A Nonprofit Organization