Language Translation and Interpretation Accessibility Campaign
SERVICES OFFERED: COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY, ADVOCACY CAMPAIGN, MEDIA RELATIONS, NARRATIVE DEVELOPMENT, CONTENT PRODUCTION
What began as a local campaign to improve language interpretation and translation services in the San Francisco Unified School District evolved into a statewide advocacy effort supporting families of students with disabilities across California. Working alongside community organizers, parent leaders, and research and policy teams, I developed a communications strategy that elevated parent voices, connected local experiences to statewide policy reform, and built broader public awareness around language accessibility. Through bilingual storytelling, media engagement, and community-centered communications, the campaign helped build momentum for SB 445 (Portantino), legislation designed to strengthen language access for families navigating special education services.
Results:
- Supported statewide advocacy for SB 445 (Portantino)
- Generated earned media coverage through relationships with education reporters
- Expanded campaign messaging beyond Latino communities to engage a broader immigrant audience
- Increased participation in campaign events through bilingual communications and outreach
- Strengthened parent leadership by preparing campaign spokespeople and amplifying community stories
Innovate Public Schools
2023
~ 1 year
01 The Challenge
Immigrant families of students with disabilities often struggled to access critical special education information because interpretation and translation services were inconsistent across school districts.
While the campaign initially focused on improving language accessibility within San Francisco Unified School District, organizers recognized an opportunity to elevate the issue into a statewide conversation that could improve outcomes for hundreds of thousands of families across California.
Before developing campaign materials, I worked alongside parent leaders to gather personal stories and identify the barriers families experienced navigating special education systems.
02 The Strategy
The campaign began by examining messaging from an existing local initiative in San Francisco that had successfully elevated parent voices around language access. I analyzed the campaign's positioning, messaging, and narrative framework to identify elements that could serve as the foundation for a broader statewide communications strategy. From there, I collaborated with community organizers, parent leaders, and research and policy teams to adapt the messaging for a statewide audience while ensuring it reflected the priorities of communities across California.
To ground the campaign in lived experience, I conducted interviews with parents whose stories illustrated the real-world impact of language barriers on their ability to engage in their children's education. These conversations revealed common themes that connected individual experiences to the broader policy changes the campaign sought to achieve.
Drawing from those insights, I developed a campaign messaging framework that positioned organized parents not simply as beneficiaries of policy change, but as leaders advocating for equitable language access across California. Rather than centering institutions, the messaging highlighted the collective power of families to shape policies that directly affected their communities.
As the campaign evolved, I expanded its positioning beyond Spanish-speaking families to better reflect the experiences of immigrant communities with diverse linguistic backgrounds. This broader narrative made the campaign more inclusive, increased its relevance to a wider audience, and created opportunities to build stronger coalitions across communities.
Throughout the campaign, I aligned communications, organizing, and policy objectives to ensure every message reinforced the campaign's legislative priorities. By translating a successful local initiative into a cohesive statewide narrative, I helped create a communications framework that strengthened advocacy efforts while keeping parents' voices at the center of the campaign.
Tools
- Google Workspace
- Canva
- Google Slides
- Zoom
03 Execution
Here's a summary of the various tactics I executed to achieve campaign goals:
Messaging & Narrative Development
I developed messaging that connected local parent advocacy to broader conversations about language justice, educational equity, and family engagement, creating a unified narrative that supported statewide policy change.
- Developed a campaign messaging framework that translated technical policy issues into accessible, community-centered communications.
- Crafted storytelling that positioned parent leaders as advocates for systemic improvements in language accessibility rather than individual beneficiaries of services.
- Synthesized parent interviews and policy research into narratives that demonstrated the broader impact of inconsistent interpretation and translation services.
- Expanded campaign messaging to reflect the experiences of diverse immigrant communities, strengthening coalition-building efforts across California.
- Maintained consistent messaging across digital communications, campaign events, media outreach, and advocacy materials.
Campaign Strategy & Community Engagement
I designed communications that educated families, increased campaign participation, and connected communities with opportunities to advocate for stronger language access policies.
- Developed communications strategies supporting webinars, community meetings, and advocacy events designed to increase awareness and participation.
- Created bilingual outreach materials in English and Spanish that improved accessibility and encouraged broader community engagement.
- Planned content calendars and campaign timelines that coordinated communications across organizing, policy, and advocacy teams.
- Developed audience-specific messaging that engaged parents, educators, policymakers, and community partners throughout the campaign.
- Supported organizing efforts by ensuring communications consistently reflected campaign priorities and advocacy goals.
Content & Creative Production
I directed the creation of bilingual communications that made complex policy issues easier to understand while amplifying parent leadership throughout the campaign.
- Developed bilingual content across social media, blogs, website copy, videos, and campaign materials to educate audiences about language accessibility.
- Wrote and revised website content that positioned the parent-led campaign at the center of the advocacy effort while providing clear opportunities for public involvement.
- Collaborated with external video vendors to shape the creative direction and storytelling approach for campaign videos.
- Guided visual and written content to ensure campaign assets remained accessible, culturally responsive, and aligned with organizational messaging.
- Maintained consistency in messaging and visual identity across digital, print, and multimedia communications.
Media Relations & Public Engagement
I helped prepare parent leaders to confidently share their experiences while building relationships with media outlets that increased visibility for the campaign and the policy issue.
- Developed talking points based on interviews with parents, ensuring campaign spokespeople could communicate authentically while reinforcing key campaign messages.
- Provided bilingual media preparation and communications coaching to support interviews, public events, and advocacy opportunities.
- Cultivated relationships with education reporters and media outlets, including EdSource, to increase awareness of language accessibility challenges and campaign efforts.
- Supported media outreach that elevated parent leadership and connected local advocacy efforts to the statewide legislative conversation.
- Reinforced consistent messaging across media interviews, campaign events, and stakeholder communications.
04 Results & Impact
Outcomes
The campaign helped transform a local organizing effort into a statewide conversation about language accessibility in special education, strengthening parent leadership and building broader support for policy change. Through strategic communications, bilingual storytelling, and media engagement, the campaign raised awareness of the barriers families face and reinforced the need for more equitable language access policies across California.
Highlights
- Supported communications efforts that built statewide momentum for SB 445, strengthening interpretation and translation policies for families navigating special education services.
- Positioned organized parents as trusted advocates through storytelling, media engagement, and public speaking opportunities.
- Expanded campaign messaging to engage a broader immigrant audience, increasing opportunities for coalition-building and public support.
- Increased participation in webinars, community events, and advocacy opportunities through bilingual communications and accessible campaign materials.
- Generated media attention that elevated both the policy issue and the parent-led movement advocating for stronger language accessibility across California.
