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Resolved: That it is the sense of the Malden City Council that the Body supports the establishment of a public language access plan and policy.
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Resolved: That it is the sense of the Malden City Council that the Body supports the establishment of a public language access plan and policy. As a diverse and immigrant-rich city, with seven major languages and over 70 languages spoken at Malden High School, language access services are essential for creating an open and welcoming community where every resident's voice can be heard. We are proud of the work the City has done in the last five years to build up these services and systems, supported by Federal stimulus funds from the American Rescue Plan. This start-up phase included purchasing equipment, creating new resources and materials, and training staff across departments on language access procedures. We especially recognize the efforts to create bilingual elections that fully enfranchise our Chinese-speaking community.
The City Council asks for the Mayor's collaboration to adopt a translation and language access plan and a sustainable policy for the city. This plan could include codifying elections procedures, identifying key documents to be translated, establishing benchmarks for the languages spoken by City staff, or setting expectations public engagement for translation or interpretation. Recognizing the city must reduce expenses across every area to close our budget gap, we want to be transparent about the commitments we will sustain to support every resident's participation in Malden's civic life, regardless of what language they speak.