Found in Translation

Found in Translation was founded in 2011 to tip the scales of opportunity across gender, race, and ethnicity, in response to some of the nation's biggest challenges: jobs, economic mobility, institutional racism, and health care costs, access and disparities. Our mission is twofold:

1. To give low-income bilingual women an opportunity to achieve economic security through the use of their language skills
2. To unleash bilingual talent into the workforce to fight racial, ethnic, and linguistic disparities in health care

Our Medical Interpreter Certificate job training program allows women to turn what is often their most stigmatized characteristic -- their linguistic and cultural heritage -- into their greatest asset in the job market. The program is free, includes common-sense supports (such as on-site childcare and transportation assistance, and mentoring), and leads directly to jobs paying $20-$50/hour in the fourth fastest-growing profession in the US. 

The unequal distribution of poverty across gender, race, and ethnicity concentrated and traps bilingual talent in low-income communities, where socioeconomic barriers impede professional advancement. Meanwhile, hospitals struggle to find enough qualified interpreters to meet the needs of rapidly growing linguistic-minority patient population. Found in Translation brings these two problems together and allows them to solve each other.

Found in Translation has been recognized locally, nationally, and internationally for its innovation and impact. We are recipients of the Echoing Green Global Fellowship, the Kip Tiernan Social Justice Fellowship, the Grinnell College Innovator for Social Justice Prize, and the SBANE Innovation Award, and were ranked in the world's top social enterprises for women and girls by Women Deliver.