Like virtually every MPI article "In Other Words" has spotlighted, the following one regarding Central American immigrants in the U.S. is full of useful, often surprising information for those of us who serve limited English speakers. We hope you find what you read below useful.

The United States is home to about 2.9 million immigrants from the Central American countries of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.

Immigration from Central America has grown rapidly in recent decades, but more than two of every five Central American immigrants lack legal immigration status while about one in ten resides in the United States under temporary humanitarian protection.

Overall, the Central American immigrant population faces substantial challenges in the United States including generally low levels of education, limited English proficiency, and an overall concentration in jobs that have experienced substantial employment losses during the economic crisis of the past three years.

Central American immigrants are heavily concentrated in California, Texas, and Florida but also account for a large share of the foreign-born population in places like the New Orleans and Washington, DC metropolitan areas (for more information on immigrants by state, please see the ACS/Census Data tool on the MPI Data Hub).

"Size and Geographic Distribution" is just one of several sections of this page that explain:

• There were about 2.9 million foreign born from Central America residing in the United States in 2009.
• Two-thirds of Central American immigrants were from El Salvador and Guatemala.
• Over half of all Central American born resided in California, Texas, and Florida.
• The Central American born accounted for over one in five immigrants in the District of Columbia and Louisiana.
• Between 2000 and 2009, the size of the Central American immigrant population doubled or more in 18 states.
• Almost one in five Central American immigrants resided in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area.
• Nearly one-third of immigrants in the New Orleans Metropolitan Area were from Central America.
• There were 4.6 million self-identified members of the Central American diaspora residing in the United States in 2009.

To learn more about Central American immigrants in your community, visit this page of the Migration Information Source.

For newcomers and experts in the field of cross cultural health care, there now are a wide variety of online resources to help people design, implement and assess interventions and programs for culturally diverse populations.

Join DiversityRX.com on a tour of new and well-established websites that feature resource databases, multimedia tools, online courses, translated materials, and opportunities for networking and peer education.

View the presentation DiversityRx.com held late last year in one of three ways:

• View the recording here
• See the full list of website here
• View the slide presentation here

Learn more of what DiversityRX has to offer here >>

Following on the heels of the recent announcement of Louis Provenzano being named CEO of Language Line Services effective, we have received a number of inquiries about Lou, and what is in store with his continued leadership.

Here are just a couple of many supporting comments.

"Lou has proven to be a caring and compassionate advocate for language rights in healthcare" said Izabel Arocha, M.Ed., CMI, and Executive Director, International Medical Interpreter Association (IMIA).

"He not only was one of the first to call for a national standard of care for LEP patients, but also helped make it a reality."

IMIA and Language Line Services are co-founders of the National Board of Certification of Medical Interpreters, the first independent certification board for medical interpreters in the U.S. (www.certifiedmedicalinterpreters.org).

"The field of medical interpreting has recognized Louis Provenzano by bestowing awards for his leadership, vision and relentless pursuit of quality and effective communication," said friend and colleague, Jeanette Anders.

Such honors include the "Friends of CHIA" Award from the California Healthcare Interpreters Association; the Nebraska Association for Translators & Interpreters (NATI) "For the Good of the Profession Award'; and, IMIA's highest honor, the "Rachel Cashman Language Access Award" for which he is extremely proud.

In addition to his efforts on behalf of the profession of medical interpreting, Louis has also served as an active participant in the Monterey Language Capital of the World Advocacy Council, Economic Development leadership of the Monterey Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Board of Directors for the United Way of Monterey County.

When asked about the success he has helped to create at Language Line Services over the past several years, Louis is the first to acknowledge the personal integrity, hard work and professionalism of our company's thousands of interpreters and all who support them.

Language Line Services, the leader in language interpretation, is seeking to increase its interpreter team in many languages, as well as offering a wide variety of corporate openings.

Dual Role Interpreters in California

An exciting new opportunity is available to experienced interpreters living in or near Contra Costa County or Palo Alto, in Northern California. Interpreters will now be able to do both on-site, face-to-face interpreting as well as over-the-phone interpreting in the following languages: Spanish, Russian, Farsi, Vietnamese, Punjabi, Tagalog, Mandarin, Cantonese, Arabic, as well as American Sign Language.

As for work-at-home, over-the-phone interpreters, we have openings in a number of languages including:

• Arabic
• French
• Somali
• Cantonese
• Korean
• Lithuanian
• Nepali
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Spanish
• Vietnamese

As well as...

• Bambara,
• Cakchiquel
• Cape Verdean (Portuguese Creole)
• Chamorro
• Chru
• Edo
• Hungarian
• Lingala
• Lusoga
• Mankon
• Mixteco
• Papiamento
• Punu
• Slovak
• Susu
• Tigrinya
• Trique
• Uzbek
• and several others (see our Web site)

And, finally, top Corporate opportunities include:

• Human Resources Coordinator
• Sales Executive - Federal Government
• Senior Sales Executives in Business Partnership Development, Healthcare, Government, General Markets, and Face-to-Face Interpretation
• Account Managers in Healthcare and General Markets
• Business Manager - Face-to-Face Interpretation
• Reporting Analyst - SQL Server
• Trainer/Senior Language Specialist
• Spanish Tester for Language Line University
• Customer Service Representative
• Scheduler

For non-interpreter positions, please apply at: www.languageline.com/careers. Click on "Apply Today" under "Corporate Careers" and follow the directions to add your profile.

EEO/AA Employer.

* Some positions may have been filled by the time you apply. However, new positions open up every week.

Visit our Career Center here >>

• "Open Letter to Hospital Compliance Officers: Training Records Dilemma and Questions to Ask as Accreditation Standards Enter Pilot Phase" - by Louis Provenzano in the HuffingtonPost.com


• Brown & Toland Physicians Partners with Language Line Services to Expand Language Access for Limited English Speaking Patients

Read more Language Line Services news here >>

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