CARRBORO, NC -- The Carrboro Town Council unanimously passed a Language Access Plan on Tuesday, April 9, that will help make the Town a more welcoming and inclusive place for all.
Carrboro's Language Access Plan represents the culmination of a year-long, collaborative effort among Town of Carrboro staff from the Race and Equity Division, Communication & Engagement, Human Resources, Housing & Community Services and Economic Development; representatives from the Refugee Community Partnership; and expert consultants from the Building Integrated Communities Project at UNC-Chapel Hill who have developed similar plans for cities and counties across the state. Learn more at https://migration.unc.edu/building-integrated-communities/
About 15.6% of Carrboro residents speak a language other than English. Speakers of non-English languages demonstrate various levels of English language proficiency. In total, around 6.5% of Carrboro residents speak English less than “very well."
Given that Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Karen, Burmese, and Arabic are the languages that are most spoken and have higher proportions of individuals who report speaking English less than “very well”, these are the languages identified as Carrboro's community languages.
Over the next year, Town staff will be implementing the plan’s goals which are to increase the availability of written translations of vital documents and information, starting with Spanish; to develop an internal language access committee; to increase availability of interpretation at public events and meetings; and to strengthen recruitment, support and management of multilingual staff members.
As part of its successful grant application to the Building Integrated Communities program, the Town of Carrboro has benefited from a strong partnership to develop its Language Access Plan, as well as anticipated additional grant funds to support the first-year implementation of the plan.
