Ibero launches language and cultural services program

The Ibero American Action League has launched a language and cultural services program to address the growing need for dual-language services in Rochester.

The program will include Spanish classes, translations, interpreting, cultural competence training, focus groups, and public relations and marketing plans.

“For the past several years, numerous organizations, businesses and individuals have contacted us about their interest and need for these services,” said Tricia Cruz-Irving, director of development and communications in a statement. “With the exception of medical interpreting, Ibero didn’t offer any other fee-for-service. So we started to develop a program to meet those needs, which also helps us in our own efforts to be competitive in the world of nonprofits.”

Revenue from the language and cultural services program will help support the organization’s other programs, particularly its Early Childhood Center on Clifford Avenue.

“Our Early Childhood Center now serves as a national model because of the milestones that our staff is able to achieve with both children and parents,” Ibero president and CEO Hilda Rosario Escher said. “We have educational leaders from other states visit our center so they can learn about the program and try to replicate it.”

The center’s success has led to a waiting list and the need to expand the program, Escher added.

While translations and interpreting have been ongoing at Ibero, the first round of Spanish classes will begin next week. Weekly sessions are $40 and continue for six weeks.

The new program falls under Ibero’s Office of Development and Communications, which received two awards for its dual-language work in 2016 from the American Marketing Association and Public Relations Society of America Rochester chapters.

Ibero was established in 1968 as a dual-language human services agency that builds stronger families and greater self-sufficiency among individuals of all ethnic backgrounds.

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