Earlier this week, the Massachusetts House released a supplemental budget bill (H.4479) allocating about $1 billion in federal funds. In exciting news, Chairman Antonio Cabral of New Bedford has filed an important amendment in support of language access for immigrant and limited English proficient families!

Amendment #42 (Rep. Cabral) would apply $8 million in federal funds to improve the capacity of our public-facing state agencies to meet the critical language access needs of our Commonwealth's increasingly diverse population.

The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the inability of state agencies to provide desperately needed information and services in languages other than English. As one of the most linguistically diverse states in the country, we must ensure that non-English speaking state residents have equal access to public health information, education, unemployment assistance, healthcare, housing, and other crucial services!

We’ve already started a message for you – click “Start Writing” above to add your own details and urge your State Representative to co-sponsor budget amendment #42. If your State Representative has already co-sponsored amendment #42, please thank them for their support!

When we invest in language access, our communities are healthier, safer, and stronger. Thank you for standing with us!