EUGENE, Ore. -- (June 25, 2009) -- A new online resource listing local social service providers who have the capacity to communicate with Spanish-speaking clients with limited command of English is now available.
The "Directory of Bilingual Social Services" for the Eugene-Springfield community is located on the website of the University of Oregon's Center for the Study of Women in Society (CSWS) at http://csws.uoregon.edu/.
The directory is an outcome of a series of three workshops for Latino parents at Springfield High School in February by the UO center's research interest group, "Becoming Bicultural: Latino Immigrant Mothers Raising American Children." At the end of the third workshop, organizers distributed a list of bilingual social services in the community. The parents in attendance expressed the need to get a more comprehensive listing and make local service providers aware of bilingual services to help Spanish-speaking clients.
For the next three months, the researchers gathered existing information, researched local availability of social services and called social service providers in Eugene and Springfield. The group found that currently 123 local agencies and organizations have bilingual capacity to communicate with Spanish-speaking clients with social service needs.
"This directory shows a remarkable improvement in the provision of bilingual social services, compared to the situation at the beginning of the decade," said Marcela Mendoza, CSWS research associate and co-editor of the directory. She is also the new interim, half-time executive director of Centro LatinoAmericano.
"In 2001, University of Oregon researchers surveyed local agencies and organizations to document their efforts in reaching Latinos in Lane County. The researchers' assessment indicated that the agencies were still looking for ways to get information out to Spanish-speaking residents, serve them in a more effective and culturally appropriate manner, and network and coordinate efforts. Our work indicates that local agencies have collectively accomplished substantial bilingual capacity in the past eight years," she said.
Research found that pertinent information is available in Spanish language on Lane County official websites and all social service providers contacted in Springfield offer bilingual services.
The directory is primarily intended for providers to be able to assist Spanish-speakers with additional resources. Sections of the directory have been translated to Spanish; however, the listings are in English. Other directories provide comprehensive information on social services in Lane County and a few have been translated to Spanish, said Mendoza.
"This directory is original in that it lists only social service providers who have bilingual (English-Spanish) capacity-in other words, we do not list all services, only social services, and only those who are prepared to communicate with Spanish-speakers."
The workshops, production and distribution costs of the directory were made possible by a mini-grant from SELCO Community Credit Union and CSWS sponsorship. The listings were last updated in June 2009.
About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of the 62 leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.
Contact: Julie Brown, 541-346-3185, julbrown@uoregon.edu
Source: Marcela Mendoza, 541-346-5015, mmendoza@uoregon.edu
Link: UO Center for the Study of Women in Society, http://csws.uoregon.edu
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