Language Justice – A Transformative Strategy for System-Level Change

By Kim Firth

“Language Justice is a key practice used in social justice movements in order to create shared power, practice inclusion, and dismantle traditional systems of oppression that have historically/traditionally disenfranchised non-English speakers”.
– Community Language Cooperative

I closed my eyes for a moment to let the beautiful sound of multi-lingual chatter and laughter wash over me. New Hampshire families, who originally hailed from all parts of the world, had gathered to learn about early childhood programs and services—and to hold those systems accountable to serve everyone. Headsets and simultaneous interpretation made two-way communication possible. However, the secret sauce that made the event successful went much deeper. Community leaders from the Early Childhood Equity Movement were leading the way, sharing culturally rooted knowledge, and leveraging their relationships to bring the community together. Participants were welcomed by someone who shared their language and culture. Food choices respected cultural traditions, and had ingredients translated in all represented languages. Everyone was welcome. Participants felt included.  Every voice was respected. Participants had what they needed to thrive. That’s language justice.

Despite myths to the contrary, New Hampshire is an increasingly diverse state. Granite Staters, as we call ourselves, include significant numbers of community members who speak one or more languages from around the world. Roughly 8% of the state’s population (approximately 112,000 people) speak a language other than English at home. According to the New Hampshire Department of Education, over 5,000 English Learners attend public schools, speaking more than 136 languages in homes and communities across the state. The linguistic and cultural diversity adds to all dimensions of community life in our small state and is critical for our future vitality.

Understanding the Early Childhood Equity Movement

When families have the conditions they need to thrive, children thrive.

In 2020, the Endowment for Health, Child Trends, and people in communities across New Hampshire began work that would ultimately become the Early Childhood Equity Movement (ECEM). That research is paving the way for increasing equity in family services like early care and education and healthcare—services that all families should, yet don’t, have access to.

Collaborative, community-driven research sowed the seeds of this movement. The partners in this project embraced an equity-centered approach, and shared power with community leaders at every phase. They created momentum for sustaina ble change to improve access to services for racially and culturally diverse families with young children. Change happens when funders listen to—and act with—communities.

To create change, we must first understand what conditions families need to thrive. Community leaders did exactly that. They led focus groups with New Hampshire families—in Spanish, Arabic, Swahili, Portuguese, Nepali, and with Native and African American families—to better understand the root causes of these inequities and how to improve access to family services.

The research revealed that many families were impacted by discrimination and lack of access to services due to language barriers. Childcare was named as a key unmet need for families. Leaders got to work on solutions, hosting culturally relevant community events to help connect families to services that they might not be aware of, or able to access. These meetings allowed the ECEM to serve as a bridge between community members and service providers. It flipped the prevailing experience so that attendees could experience the dignity and respect they deserved. It became an opportunity to model for providers what language access could look like and to create accountability to help families enroll in programs they could benefit from. It became an opportunity for community members and providers to break bread together and to begin to erode mistrust between community and providers. With power dynamics equalized, healing could begin.

We Persist

Complex problems rarely have simple solutions! Access to high-quality childcare for all families in New Hampshire is no exception.  Community leaders continued to identify layers of systemic barriers to engagement with state systems. Outreach materials were not translated into other languages. Phone numbers meant to help navigate enrollment were not accessible to persons who speak a language other than English. Digital literacy and access were a problem for many families who cannot upload required online documents. The state systems’ workforce did not match New Hampshire’s growing diversity and are most often not multi-lingual or bi-cultural. The supply of childcare providers was a big challenge, and pipeline efforts have not intentionally or sustainably benefited diverse communities.

To navigate both the complexity and the systemic barriers, trusted messengers—navigators and community health workers—support enrollment in programs and so much more. They build trust with families and help to navigate complex systems. They identify barriers, advocate for families and bring the community’s experiences and voices back to systems.  Without them, a family whose primary language is not English would have minimal means to find a childcare program to meet their needs and to enroll in state childcare assistance programs. Yet, this critical role is not a funded component of the system.

Being armed with a solid understanding of language inequities, we wanted to learn more about best practices from other states, specific to childcare systems, but also governmental programs more broadly. That’s where our new partnership with the Carsey School of Public Policy and its Early Care & Education Research Consortium began. Through co-designed research, Carsey recently released the first of three research briefs exploring best practices across the U.S. to support families whose primary language is not English. Through qualitative research, our partnership with Carsey will continue to amplify the voices of families and the community-based trusted messengers who help to navigate complex systems and overcome their existing linguistic and cultural barriers.

Expanding the Table

As the Early Childhood Equity Movement demonstrates, it is the power of local communities coming together to solve their own challenges that has the greatest potential for transformative system-level change. Language justice is not only a tool for communication access. It expands the table and centers equity in our movements. It is not a “nice to have”—it’s a central ingredient to build power and advance system-level change. Language justice practices are for all of us—organizers and advocates, foundations, and governmental systems. Language justice is more than paying for interpretation or translating materials.  It is a way to uplift and collectively benefit from the assets that everyone brings to the table. It takes investment in community organizations and trusted messengers who make that access meaningful and build trust with families. Together, we can move the dynamic from disenfranchisement to engagement, agency and empowerment, so that all Granite Staters can thrive.