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Providing Effective Interpretive Services to Emerging Indigenous People from Oaxaca Ron Mortenson

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Providing Effective Interpretive Services to Emerging Indigenous People from Oaxaca Ron Mortenson Providing Effective Interpretive Services to Emerging Indigenous People From Oaxaca Ron Mortenson EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction Findings Monterey County was recently faced with providing Cultural competency for the employees dealing with translation services to a group of people from Oax- this new population was seen as being the key to suc- aca, Mexico. The dilemma was that there are several cess. Cultural competency training teaches us to un- languages specific to various regions of Oaxaca and derstand values, respect differences and respond ap- there were limited interpreters available. Further- propriately to the needs and culture of the customer. more, the resources available were extremely costly. Additionally relationships with local organizations Efforts were made to seek advice from the State of proved to be instrumental for communicating effec- California which mandates that interpretation must tively. be provided in a customer’s native tongue, but the state had little information to share. Other counties Conclusions and organizations were consulted to ascertain best Implications and recommendations are as follows: practices for dealing effectively with emerging popu- ■ The Cultural Competency model used by lations that did not speak English. Santa Clara County could be further studied and emulated. ■ Expanding relationships with local organiza- tions is needed. ■ Recruiting Oaxacan speaking employees is vital. Ron Mortenson is a Management Analyst III at the Monterey County Department of Social and Employment Services. 139 140 BASSC EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT TRAINING PROGRAM Providing Effective Interpretive Services to Emerging Indigenous People From Oaxaca Ron Mortenson Introduction monolingual Spanish speaking people at its King Monterey County faced a financial projection of City offices, which serve the residents of Greenfield. needing to spend $250,000 for a year of contracted Additionally, it was recently discovered that 12% of interpretation services for the many languages spo- the customers in that service area are monolingual in ken by people from Oaxaca, Mexico. Initial analy- the Oaxacan languages. sis indicated there were no quick solutions and that When these families from Oaxaca were initially other California counties were faced with similar interviewed, our workers attempted to communicate interpretation problems. This study explores how with them by speaking Spanish, which they assumed to provide mandated interpretation when there is a was appropriate for someone from Mexico. Unfortu- limited availability of qualified interpreters. nately, we later realized that people from Oaxaca do not understand Spanish. Prevalent languages include Background Mixtec, Triqui and Zapotec, but there are literally The State of California requires all county welfare thousands of languages spoken by a population that departments to provide free interpretation to social exceeds 3.5 million (Oaxaca Facts, 2006). When we service customers in their native language (Cali- occasionally managed to find someone to provide inter- fornia DSS Div. 21, 2006). Typically, this is accom- pretation, their knowledge proved to be insufficient plished by having certified bilingual interpreters to deal with the scope of the language problem. on staff, or through contracted services. Monterey The Oaxacan culture is one of a proud people County is experiencing a challenge in this area due who smile often and nod their heads in an accept- to an emerging indigenous population of custom- ing and affirmative fashion, even when they do not ers from the Mexican State of Oaxaca. People from understand. This leads to communication issues Oaxaca began migrating to the United States in with much misunderstanding on both sides. Our search of opportunity, higher paying work and bet- social services customers from Oaxaca generally do ter living conditions. Many have relocated to Mon- not read or write, which has also caused confusion. terey County, with a significant number settling in The welfare system is very “forms-intensive,” but in and around the town of Greenfield, because of the a verbal-based community, there is little concept of availability of work opportunities provided in the forms or signatures. This difference led to further agriculture industry (Salinas Californian, 2007). challenges as county employees attempted to do When the harvesting season ended, many fami- their jobs, while having to explain procedures that lies were left with limited amounts of food and shel- were culturally incomprehensible. ter, so they turned to the Monterey County Depart- Unfortunately, the availability of Oaxacan lan- ment of Social and Employment Services (DSES) to guage interpreters is minimal. The only current op- provide these necessities. Monterey County has a so- tions are a few community volunteers, very limited cial services client population of approximately 59% yet expensive interpretation service providers, and 141 142 BASSC EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT TRAINING PROGRAM some translation from family members. The goal of Understanding Culture this project is to find out how other counties have As organizations and individuals attempt to become solved this dilemma, and, more importantly, to dis- culturally competent, they must become students cover the best approach for obtaining necessary in- of culture. The Campinha-Baconte Cultural Com- terpretation services for the Oaxacan people. It is petency Model indicates that people must move hoped that by studying other county solutions that through the following phases: Monterey County may be able to absorb and ap- ply information that others have learned, avail the a Cultural Awareness, county of identified resources and develop innova- b Cultural Knowledge, tive and pro-active strategies to serve this unique c Cultural Encounter, population, while reducing costs. d Cultural Skills, and e Cultural Desire. Methodology Culture is defined as the sum of beliefs, prac- Initial discussions with representatives from the tices, habits, likes, dislikes, norms, customs, ritu- State of California indicated that Monterey County als, and so forth that people learn from their fami- was providing the best service levels, when compared lies and years of socialization in their communities with the other counties currently dealing with this (Merriam-Webster, 2007). As employees understand emerging population from Oaxaca. The decision was and respect the culture of their customers, they will made to spend some time working with employees be better prepared to communicate with them. It is of Santa Clara County, as that county is known to not just about interpreting words, it is about under- have dealt with newly emerging population issues in standing the context of the words and the compre- the past. It was hoped that Monterey County could hension of the information by the people receiving use similar templates for success that had been effec- the words. tively utilized by Santa Clara County. Additionally, other counties in Northern California were queried Community Outreach to see how they effectively dealt with Oaxacan cus- An important method for providing interpretation tomers. Finally, discussions with local organizations services to new populations is to reach out to the were held to learn more about the Oaxacan culture. community leaders and have them help provide inter- preters for those who need it. These can be religious Lessons Learned or other cultural leaders who are respected in the community. An effective strategy has been to place Cultural Competency these types of individuals on an approved interpreter Santa Clara County has a very strong commitment to list so that state requirements are more properly met. achieving cultural competency within their agency. Another approach is to obtain the assistance of non- Cultural competency is the ability of an individual profit community organizations and/or agencies. or organization to understand and respect values, at- Also, Santa Clara County has established a strong titudes, beliefs and mores that differ across cultures, association with the Mexican Consulate which has and to consider and respond appropriately to these helped in developing the county’s relationships with differences (Dean, 1996). Many managers believe local community groups. Other agencies have expe- this is the key to providing effective interpretation rienced problems in attempting to hire interpreters for their customers. Enhancing cultural competency who are then discovered to be undocumented im- is recognized as a very effective approach to overcome migrants. This issue will be overcome as succeeding the health & social disparities attributed to race and generations fulfill citizenship requirements, but it is ethnicity (CBDIO, 2006). likely to remain a problem in the near future. PARTICIPANTS’ CASE STUDIES • CLASS OF 2007 143 Current Achievements has initiated the steps that need to be taken in order Monterey County has already been successful in to provide effective interpretation services, and they progressing forward with solutions to the interpre- need to continue to journey down this path. The tation challenge. In 2006, community organizations county needs to increase knowledge of Oaxacan cul- with volunteer interpreters for Zapotec, Mixtec, ture for all Monterey County employees, especially and Triqui languages joined with Monterey County those who have Oaxacan caseloads. The Cultural DSES staff at a meeting for the Oaxacan indigenous Competency model used by Santa Clara County community
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