National Coalition for Language Access
What is the NCFLA?
The National Coalition for Language Access (NCFLA) is a coalition of organizations and individuals that care deeply about the rights of people who speak limited English, who are Deaf, Deafblind or hard-of-hearing to communicate clearly with professionals in healthcare, education, social service or legal settings.
We are administrators, doctors, lawyers, interpreters, advocates, and educators. We work in healthcare, in education, in courts, in refugee resettlement and in immigrant rights associations.
We are hearing and Deaf and deafblind, we are monolingual and multilingual, born in the U.S and immigrants and refugees. Some of us have started to support language access recently, while many of us have been doing this work for decades.
All of us are alarmed to see the communicative rights of people in the U.S. being eroded, making it harder for people in our multilingual country to access services in a language other than English, and making it harder for health/educational/human service professionals to do their jobs.
The coalition came together remotely through word-of-mouth on March 2, 2025, following the release of Executive Order 14224 in which President Donald Trump designated English as the national language of the United States. Our goal is to serve as a communications and coordination hub for all people, organizations and communities committed to protecting and expanding language access in the United States to strengthen and mobilize a broad and unified movement. To join us, click here.
Today, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released its report examining language access for individuals with Limited English Proficiency (LEP). The report was unanimously approved.
The American Translators Association (ATA), the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators (NAJIT), the American Association of Interpreters and Translators in Education (AAITE), the.
House Bill 2475 directs the Washington State Office of Equity to develop guidelines that help state agencies provide more consistent language-accessible programs and services across.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently settled two investigations into health care providers that failed to.
Wisconsin Assembly Bill 377 (AB 377), seeking to establish English as the official state language and allow AI-powered translation instead of human interpreters in courts,.
The attorneys general of 19 states and the New York City Corporation Counsel urge the FCC to immediately publish its January 8, 2025 Multilingual Wireless.
Title: An Emerging Threat to Health Equity: Diminished Patient Access to Language Services Authors: Sabrina Derrington, Amelia Barwise, Lynette Martins, and Rachel Fabi Publication Date:.
Six leading professional associations representing over 27,800 U.S. translators and interpreters strongly oppose President Trump’s Executive Order 14224 (March 1, 2025), which designates English as.
Health Care and U.S. Immigration Enforcement: What Providers Need to Know Publication Date: March 2025 This guide, produced by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and.
The Coalition for Sign Language Equity in Technology (CoSET) is committed to protecting the integrity of communication between principal communicators in any interpreted interaction by.
There are different kinds of government actions. Not all carry the same weight, and they each play very different roles in how our government works.
STATUTES are laws.
Statutes are laws, passed by both Houses of Congress and signed by the President. Laws can only be changed by a new law being passed by both Houses of Congress and signed by the President.
REGULATIONS implement statutes.
GUIDANCE explains regulations.
Guidance is provided by an agency either before or after regulations are finalized. They can provide initial information about a statute or clarify regulations. They can take different forms such as a letter, or questions and answers. Guidance can be issued at any time, but it cannot change a regulation or a statute. Guidance also can be withdrawn at any time.
EXECUTIVE ORDERS bind only the Executive Branch.
Executive Orders are instructions sent by the President to the agencies of the Executive Branch of the government. Executive Orders can be changed by a President at any time, but they cannot change a statute or a regulation.
CASE LAW interprets statutes and sets precedent.
Case law refers to legal decisions written by judges. The decisions are often written in response to legal challenges to statutes, regulations or guidance. Case law acts as a guide for how statutes, regulations and guidance should be applied to specific, real-world situations in response. Once a court rules, the case law creates a precedent in the jurisdiction of that court. When higher-level courts makes a ruling, they create a precedent that lower courts must follow, ensuring that similar legal issues are handled consistently over time.
The following current statutes, regulations, guidance, Executive Orders and case law support/impact language access.
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in any program or activity receiving federal.
Sections 2 and 203 of the Voting Rights Act require meaningful language access in election materials.
.The Fair Housing Act requires that State and local agencies provide meaningful language access in ensuring fair housing.
.The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 provides funding for State and local governments in reducing the incidence of crime and to.
Federal regulations under 7 C.F.R. § 272.4, which implement the Food and Nutrition Act (formerly the Food Stamp Act;, require that state and local agencies.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in programs, services, or activities receiving federal financial assistance. Requirements include the provision.
The Equal Educational Opportunities Act requires that schools and educational institutions receiving federal funding provide meaningful language access.
.The Stafford Act and federal regulations under 44 CFR § 206.11 require that FEMA and its partners provide meaningful language access during disaster relief.
.The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, transportation, and public places. It.
Plaintiffs, native Farsi and Spanish speakers, filed a class action lawsuit against Maine Medical Center, alleging failure to provide adequate translation services for LEP patients..
Spanish-speaking recipients of food stamps brought a class action lawsuit against the Lucas County Dept. of Jobs and Family Services and the Ohio Dept. of.
Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act requires that any health program or activity, any part of which receives funding from the Department of Health.
Lorena Cabrera and her two minor sons were tenants at a housing development managed by the San Francisco Housing Authority (SFHA). Ms. Cabrera brought a.
Plaintiff Cirila Baltazar Cruz sued the Mississippi Dept. of Human Services after her newborn was removed from her custody. Plaintiff, a Mexican national, had fluency.
Plaintiffs Faith Action for Community Equity (F.A.C.E.) and Tochiro Kochiro Kovac filed a class action lawsuit against the State of Hawaii and the Hawaii Dept..
The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act requires that state and local employment benefit agencies receiving federal funding must provide meaningful language access.
.Latino mobile homeowners brought an action against the City of Richmond, VA and city code enforcement officials, alleging discrimination in the enforcement of building code.
Students of the School District of Philadelphia and their parents brought a class action lawsuit against the District, alleging violations of the Individuals With Disabilities.
English language learners sued the School Board of Collier County, FL, alleging that they were excluded from a free public education. The plaintiffs made allegations.
The Ohio Immigrant Workers Project filed a class action lawsuit against the Dover City, OH school district alleging the District failed to educate and systematically.
Patricia Pimentel, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, brought a civil rights action against the City of Methuen, MA, its police chief and three officers,.
Neighbor to Neighbor, a nonprofit that assists recent immigrants and refugees in South Bend, Indiana, sued the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV), alleging discrimination.
Xingru Lin, a native Mandarin speaker, filed a lawsuit against District of Columbia police officers who arrested her twice, alleging that the arrests violated her.
Eight Chicago Public School (CPS) students with disabilities and their LEP parents filed a class action lawsuit against the Board of Education of the City.
Nicholas Reyes, a native of El Salvador, filed a civil rights action against Harold Clarke and other defendants, alleging civil rights violations under 42 U.S.C..
Jose Ricardo Villalta Canales sued Officer Joseph Caw and 2 other officers; the Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources and its police; and the State of.
Executive Order 14224, signed on March 1, 2025, designates English as the official language of the United States, revokes Executive Order 13166 (which required federal.
The General Services Administration (GSA), the federal agency that manages government business operations, issued a Translation and Interpretation Ordering Guide, December 2025. This guide provides.
The Supporting Patient Education And Knowledge Act of 2025, (or SPEAK Act of 2025) mandates the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish.
The NCFLA has started a project to collect stories about how language access, or a lack thereof, has impacted individuals, organizations, and communities. These stories come from people who communicate in a language other than English, who are Deaf, Deafblind or Hard of Hearing, or who work in healthcare, education, social services, or the legal professions.
Starting in March 2025, information regarding language access was removed from many federal websites.
To find this historical information, you can use the Wayback Machine, a resource from the Internet Archive (a 501(c)(3) non-profit building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts). The Wayback Machine allows you to access previously existing guidance that is no longer live on the web.
Additionally, other institutions have preserved these specific resources:
- The Library of Congress has automatically archived LEP.gov, providing a historical record of the site over time. You can browse the archive listing or view captures by date to access past versions of the site.
- The National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project maintains an extensive collection of language access resources and materials originally found on LEP.gov, available through their Language Access Library.
