Birmingham area deputies say they are working on more Spanish language trainings, services
Members of the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama, Angelica Melendez, April Alvarez, Maria Elena Frias and Daniel Novoa, are working to reduce language barriers for victims of domestic violence.Advocates working with the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama often receive calls from people who want help from police, but feel unable to accurately communicate their needs through a language barrier.
Through Sept. 2023, the coalition has served 408 victims of crimes, 324 of which were noted as having limited English proficiency. In 2020, Hispanic people made up about 5% of the state’s population, or about 264,000 people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.Too often, Birmingham domestic violence leads to deaths: ‘It’s real’
“We deal with a lot with domestic violence cases and a mom that may have been strangled or raped is not going to share those details with her child and that could be the difference between a misdemeanor offense or a felony,” Ana Okert, the coalition’s survivor advocate said.“We’ve talked about the importance of just learning who you’re serving,” Ockert said.
“In the last couple of years, there’s kind of been a decay in our relationship with the community. So we’re trying to rebuild. We have to get with the stakeholders, get with the community leaders, talk with people, try to find out what they need and what their expectations are of us,” Powell said.
Maria Elena Frias, the coalition’s citizenship and immigration program manager, helps undocumented clients apply for humanitarian visas.
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