On February 8-10, a few of LTI’s colleagues had the privilege of participating in the JNCL-NCLIS Language Advocacy Days. This annual event, delivered virtually, brings language educators, students, and leaders together to discuss issues surrounding language education and to advocate for multilingualism and quality language education.
Participating in this event was an incredibly inspiring experience. It was an honor to come together with language educators and students from across the country to advocate with elected officials for funding and equal access to quality language education. On Wednesday and Friday, we had the opportunity to hear from numerous language advocates, multilingual professionals, educators, as well as a few elected officials. Among them were House Representatives Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) and Mary Sattler Peltola (D-AK) as well as Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI), who gave powerful speeches about the significance of language education and preservation and the importance of multilingualism to our economy, national security, and the United States’ standing on the global stage.
“We have a lot of work to do to build our country’s language capacity. It is important that we fund school language programs, and we strengthen the language educator pipeline. As we look forward to the work ahead of us, I am also looking forward to our continued partnership.” – U.S. Representative Jimmy Panetta (D-CA-19), America’s Language Caucus House Co-Chair
Katie Hedrick is the Community Inclusion Coordinator of the City of Roanoke’s Community Engagement department in Virginia. One of her responsibilities is to run a Bilingual Incentive Pay Program to address the concerns and needs of Roanoke’s diverse 100,000 residents.
