Language Access and Cultural Responsiveness | University of Maryland

Language Access

These resources help Maryland organizations enhance their information and services for Marylanders with Limited English Proficiency.

The Baltimore City Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs (MIMA) created this toolkit that can be a model to help counties and cities comply with federal and state language access mandates. Learn how Language Access Liaisons and bilingual employees, among other strategies, help ensure language access for diverse populations.

Use this poster to help identify language needs and bridge language gaps in your community. You can display the poster in public-facing areas, such as front desk areas, and use it to connect Marylanders with interpretation services or qualified bilingual staff.

People with Limited English Proficiency face many language and cultural barriers outside scheduled healthcare visits. To reduce these barriers, medical interpreters often extend their services to include health system navigation. The Horowitz Center partnered with La Clínica del Pueblo, a federally qualified health center and community-based organization, to research and recommend how to enhance and expand medical interpreters’ role in advancing health literacy within the organization and with patients. Read the project summary and recommendations

This program provides Maryland State agencies, both governmental and non-governmental, with on-demand and accessible translation services. These services are available 24 hours a day, every day of the year. The goal of this program is to decrease language barriers.

Limited English Proficiency

This Federal government program shares resources and tools to improve language assistance services, per Executive Order 13166, which mandates that all Federal agencies must have support for people with limited English proficiency. The resources cover topics like immigration, language access planning, and public benefits and health.

Culturally Respectful and Responsive Care

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health states that health disparities and inequities can be traced in part to a lack of care that respects and responds to people's cultures. Public health and medicine are also cultures in the sense that professionals are trained in the acceptable ways of thinking, communicating, and acting in their roles. Culture includes all aspects of daily life, from what we eat to how we dress, the words we use, and the ideas and topics we consider acceptable.

Guidelines and best practices for culturally respectful and responsive care help us self-reflect as well as learn how to interact with others so that we have productive conversations and interactions. The resources in this section are just the tip of what's available as you consider how to make your own practices and those of your organization culturally respectful and responsive.

This website from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health offers free online learning programs and resources to support providers and professionals in delivering culturally responsive care and communications.

The National CLAS Standards offer guidelines for providing respectful, responsive care to all people, which will ultimately help reduce health disparities and achieve health equity. This website offers resources, including an implementation guide (known as The Blueprint), an implementation checklist, and crosswalks with major accreditation requirements and performance metrics to help organizational leaders put CLAS Standards into practice.

This website from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasizes the importance of addressing all people inclusively and respectfully, and offers key principles and resources for communicators to ensure their messages adapt to the specific considerations of each audience of focus.