This post is also available in: Spanish
By Krystina Shultz
Since opening the doors of its first boutique in Harrisburg, Dress for Success South Central PA has been an organization focused on meeting the needs of the community. Growing from a tiny single boutique in Harrisburg, this organization now effectively serves all of South Central PA. With boutiques in Harrisburg, Lebanon and York, and a Mobile Unit that travels to meet clients in Adams, Cumberland and Perry Counties, this nonprofit now serves over 2,000 women annually. Dress for Success South Central PA empowers women to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire and development tools to help women thrive in work and in life. Services include job ready programs, computer training, mentor workshops and networking sessions to increase a client’s potential and skill level.
Fifteen percent of Dress for Success South Central PA clients are Spanish speaking. Volunteers are relied upon to help translate for clients in need of additional support for reading and verbal comprehension. This year, the client-focused organization will be taking an additional step.
Founder and CEO, Ruth Koup, is spearheading The Spanish Translation Project. “We have a fantastic new process of delivering information to our clients and we want to be inclusive, making sure that they are able to access the full spectrum of services we provide,” Koup announced.
Volunteers who are fluent in Spanish can relate to the need for communications that eliminate the language
barrier. Librada Vagnozzi, a Dress for Success South Central PA volunteer states, “I had 2 clients that didn’t speak any English, one of which understood spoken English, but couldn’t read the language.” The other was still striving to learn spoken English.
Librada came to the US in 1995. She explains that if anyone had met her then, “I wouldn’t be here talking to you. I’d go hide in a corner.” Due to her language barrier, she did “hide in a corner” for a while, but then, “I decided, that’s not me. If I can speak Spanish, I can speak English.” This year, Librada has volunteered to assist with translating documents into Spanish, to provide a higher level of service for Spanish speaking clients.
The CEO, Ruth Koup stated, “We’re working with our volunteers and funders to find ways to break down barriers due to language. We are thankful that our volunteers, such as Librada, are stepping up to the plate and helping us translate documents one at a time.”
Dress for Success South Central PA empowers the women they serve. However, with a language barrier, the process can prove to be difficult. Librada explained, “For one, [the women] are struggling with self-esteem because they don’t know English. So it’s a double strike,” the inability to effectively communicate causes an additional hurdle of self-consciousness and embarrassment. When reaching out to empower an individual, effective communication is vital to that process.
Librada feels passionately about the Spanish Translation Project, “It’s important! We need to get them [involved] and help them when they don’t know English, so they can function.” She expressed that intimidation can prevent an individual from achieving success, and it’s imperative that the organization focus on supporting clients while they adjust to learning English.
Librada is currently engaged in translating the Client Satisfaction Survey. This document provides outcomes and reports regarding the quality of services provided and it also captures the clients’ comments. It is imperative that clients are able to comprehend the survey in order to accurately respond and express their experiences and opinions.
A private space is provided for clients to complete the Client Satisfaction Survey anonymously. Clients should feel comfortable sharing personal details and opinions. However, when a translator is needed to verbally communicate the meaning of each question, it eliminates the anonymity and can cause unneeded stress. Librada is working on ensuring that the meaning of each question on the survey is translated appropriately to reduce confusion and increase reporting accuracy.
The next step will be expanding the Spanish Translation Project to cover video and audio recordings on a variety of different media, but it will need additional funding. The organization is looking for individual funders to help cover costs of translations for tasks that require professional assistance.
Dress for Success South Central PA endeavors to help clients embrace their journey to obtaining employment, and to keep that process as easy as possible. Ruth Koup added, “Both I and Librada want our clients to succeed. Language, and employment, which provides a regular paycheck, will change lives.” In order to change the lives of its clients, Dress for Success South Central PA is stepping forward to provide the highest quality of service for both English and Spanish speaking clients.
Anyone interested in volunteering or donating can visit https://southcentralpa.dressforsuccess.org or call 717-232-1333