Next Generation Language Access

Our mission at Next Generation Language Access is to change the lives of high school students by providing them with an employment oppurtunity as an interpreter which they can pursue right after graduation from high school.  This oppurtunity to work as an interpreter allows our program graduates to work full time, work part-time to help pay for higher education, or start their own interpretation buisness out of high school.  Students can work anywhere in the United States as a community interpreter and in many countries around the world.  Next Generation Language Access is a new organization ( founded in December 2020) but we have trained students to become professional interpreters beforehand.  Below is an essay that a student wrote so she could apply to our training program.  It has been taken directly from the student's essay ( with their permission) without alterations so you can see the written voice of our students and what this program has inspired our students to do:

“ Before the interpreter program was even presented, I honestly had no clue where I was going to go after graduation. I had a dream but no plan I dreamed of a simple dream for me but it became more than a dream for myself. After many years of my family living in America for about 18 years they lived well due to temporary protected status ( TPS). My parents and possibly my brothers will have to leave to join my sister in El Salvador by September 2019. So basically with them in Central America I have to now provide an income to them fresh out of high school with no real job. To me this program is a hope for my family and I. I had never really considered an interpreter as a job for me b/c for myself it was always something I did to be kind to the neighbors, family and friends…. My goal is to complete the program and get a job. I can eventually become a court interpreter. I hope you understand am fully committed to becoming a success story.”

This student later went on to complete the interpreter training program, which was the first documented interpreter training program in the state of Maryland that trained high school students. A fellow student, who we later learned was undocumented, also completed the program and can now start her own buisness as an interpreter and can decide the best way for her to accept payments from clients.  Training students to become professional interpreters really has the power to change the lifecourse of our students in our public schools.  The mission of Next Generation Language Access is to provide this training to hundreds of students with similar stories to the one you read above.  With your donation, we can overcome barriers of poverty and immigration status so that all students in public high schools have the oppurtunity to be trained to be in the dignified and well-paying career of a Community Interpreter.  All donations will go directly to training students to become professional interpreters.  Thank you for taking the time to learn about us and be a part of our mission.  Let's train the next generation of interpreters together!