Testimonials

"The Vermont Language Justice Project has been an invaluable resource and partner to VT Professionals of Color (VT PoC). While our organizational mission is to advance prosperity for all Black, Indigenous and People of Color across Vermont, an underlying goal is to increase access to existing information to the BIPOC community because we are often the last to know, especially in critical situations. VLJP has filled in a significant gap in getting information out to the BIPOC community quickly and effectively. They serve not only the immigrant and refugee communities, but their ASL and English videos have been indispensable for VT PoC members as well. A prime example was how quickly VLJP was able to get out flood information through their various channels as the situation was changing rapidly. VT PoC is a proud partner of VLJP and we look forward to continuing our partnership."

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Weiwei Wang

Executive Director, Community and Policy | Co-Founder 

VT Professionals of Color Network

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Our state is one of the highest per capita refugee resettlement states in the country and we have over 20 languages spoken. We have a strong need for multilingual resources.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted, issues of informational access are essential for emergency preparedness.  Door to door distribution of information was not possible in lockdown. English information was available on websites and the news but inaccessible for those who spoke a language other than English. The Vermont Multicultural Coronavirus Taskforce (former name of the VT Language Justice Project) quickly and effectively produced high quality, vetted informational videos and audio clips in many languages to provide access to COVID 19 information.  These resources were compiled in audio files for What’sApp distribution and in a YouTube channel.  Information on the infection, quarantine, testing, vaccination and other topics were made to schools, community organizations and physicians like myself who work with immigrants and refugees. COVID 19 resources are shared nationwide with other health care and public health teams through the North American Society for Refugee Health Providers.  I have heard firsthand from providers nationwide about how useful the videos are.

During the pandemic, it has been made even clearer that we need improvements in public health literacy.  Trusted multilingual resources are key strategies towards that effort. The Vermont Language Justice Project is an essential piece of the goal to ensure health equity. Please accept my strongest endorsement of their work.

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Andrea E Green, MDCM FAAP

Professor of Pediatrics

Director Pediatric Global Health

Director Pediatric New American Program

Bridges to Health works to ensure migrant workers across the state have equitable opportunities to achieve and maintain their optimal health through access to health information, health care and related services. 

For many people, including English Language Learners, finding easy to understand, clinically, and contextually accurate information is challenging. This has been particularly true during the pandemic as knowledge about the virus, public health guidance, and vaccines continues to change frequently. VLJP stepped in to fill a void in Vermont - ensuring speakers of all languages have access to similar information as English speakers and in a digestible format. By focusing on one topic at a time, the videos they produce allow us to directly and easily share information that is relevant and pertinent to individuals as well as larger groups. Most recently, VLJP videos have been critical to ensuring that migrant workers have easy to follow directions for the brand of test kit that they receive. Our first distribution of test kits was BinaxNow - VLJP had a video and QR code for that so we printed out the QR codes to put on each box for distribution. We just received new test kits - totally different brand - and were thrilled that VLJP already had a video and QR code for the on/go kits as well. Their work has helped us be more efficient and consistent in our communication outreach. VLJP has sought out and is responsive to feedback to that improves the content and reach of their videos. We look forward to more!

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Naomi Wolcott-MacCausland

Bridges to Health & Huertas

Migrant Health Coordinator

UVM Extension

I want to specifically highlight the life saving work of the Vermont Multilingual Coronavirus Task Force (now the Vermont Language Justice Project) during the COVID pandemic and its role in crafting multilingual messaging in the way that can be easily comprehended in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner. USCRI Vermont is proud of our collective work disseminating critical pandemic information videos and voice recordings as a member of the Task Force to refugee and immigrant communities around the state through social media, Youtube, Facebook, and other trusted platforms accessed by those communities.

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Amila Merdzanovic Director

The necessary formation and incredible work of the Vt Language Justice Project tin the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic ensured that the Limited English Proficient communities were included in receiving life saving messages for all Vermonters.  We watched this grass roots organization work collaboratively and diligently round the clock to provide life saving messaging in a culturally and linguistically appropriate format for our clients and their family members.  The commitment to the belief that equity is at the heart of all that they do in advocating for access to health information for all Vermonters who have limited English proficiency is exemplary and has complimented the work we do at AALV.

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Yacouba Jacob Bogre

Executive Director

“I have had the pleasure and honor of collaborating with the Vermont Language Justice Project over the past year to work on a mental health series for individuals in Vermont who come from different cultures and backgrounds. VLJP has been an exceptional partner in providing expertise, knowledge, and timely videos to ensure essential mental health information reaches across Vermont…and even beyond thanks to their internet platform. VLJP fills a deep need in Vermont and we look forward to continued collaborations with them.”

Cheryle Wilcox,

Mental Health Collaborations Director, VT Department of Mental Health​

Hi Alison,

I would like to share some information with you. Last Sunday morning I sent the link:  Mandarin Chinese: 中国国语： 如何对新冠病毒-19进行便利检测  (How to take an On/Go Test for Covid -19) to the people in the Chinese communities located in different counties of Vermont through WeChat. 

About two days almost 200 Chinese people reviewed the video. I did ask their feedback regarding the clearness of my voice, speed of my talking, and their understanding of the instruction I translated in the video. Their responds: the voice is clear, speed is fine, the words are all understandable. Their feedback gave me a lot of assurance. 

A couple of parents especially expressed their appreciation to me on the instruction and demonstration of the video. They said that their kids would go back to school very soon. The school requested kids to be tested at home before they return to school. The school did give them the test kits. But the parents did not know how to use it. By receiving the link, following the instruction in Chinese / watching this video, the parents learned how to do it. They felt very happy about it.   

I would like to share all these with you. I am glad the instruction in Chinese and the video has served the Chinese Community in Vermont. Thank you very much for your work! 

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Lili Feng

Language access is an essential component of the equitable delivery of civil legal services.  The office of the Health Care Advocate's (HCA) partnership with the Vermont Language Justice Project has been vital to ensure that everyone who lives in Vermont, regardless of what language they speak, can get information about our free and confidential assistance.  The HCA developed outreach videos in 13 languages with the support of the Vermont Language Justice Project.  They have also been a key partner in advocating for language justice in the delivery of Covid-19 services.  This partnership will help our office be accountable and accessible to the community.  We look forward to continuing the collaboration between our organizations as we work towards advancing health equity in Vermont.

I have had the immense
pleasure to get to know Alison and the incredible work accomplished by VLJP over the last two years and I could not
be a stronger advocate for the work they are doing. The innovative and culturally contextual work that VLJP has been
doing in improving health literacy while simultaneously creating culturally inclusive healthcare for some of Vermont’s
most vulnerable populations has saved lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, VLJP is not only changing
lives here in Vermont, but their educational videos are being viewed and saving lives world-wide. VLJP continues to be
a thoughtful, reliable, and substantive partner in the work that we are doing in the Department of Emergency Medicine
and across the UVMHN in the New American, Indigenous, and Migrant populations.
Alison and VLJP do such amazing work that their strategic and community partners continue to ask for more.
This has led to little time for their organization to focus on advocacy regarding language access, data collection, grant
writing and continued outreach to our patients with limited English proficiency.  To know Alison and the staff at VLJP even after only a few
moments of speaking with them, is to be in the presence of a group of people who very evidently want to expand health equity, improve healthcare delivery and access while making a large impact not only on Vermonter’s but patients worldwide. I cannot recommend this organization more highly and I personally look forward to continuing to collaborate with them in around best practices in health equity to move this very important work forward.

Our partnership with Vermont Language Justice has helped United Way’s Working Bridges and Common Good Vermont achieve increased health equity in the way we support employees with diverse primary languages. Access to essential resources helps all of us show up each day, to work, to fully participate in the community, and be included. With Vermont Language Justice’s scripting and video production expertise, and network of interpreters, we were able to disrupt language barriers to health insurance and health care. 

Over the course of just a few short months, this project came to life with what felt like deep trust and collaboration from the outset. For that, our team is appreciative that we had the opportunity to learn how we can create more access using something so short and sweet and shareable as a video, and spreading information in various primary languages.

I look forward to future projects where we can continue to increase health equity, and/or expand into other areas that provide essential resources to workers and our community at large.

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Connie Beal

Working Bridges Director

United Way of Northwest Vermont