The Morrisville Town Council approved the Town’s Language Access Plan (LAP) on February 27, 2024. Language access is important to the Town of Morrisville and the LAP will build language bridges for stronger community connections.

 On February 21, in honor of International Mother Language Day – a day to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism – the Town shared the below video that highlights the important work Morrisville is doing in the area of language access. 

View the Language Access Plan here.

Morrisville Submits Language Access Plan Draft and Budget

Nov. 21, 2023

Blog Post No. 2

The Town of Morrisville, along with its community partner (Hindi Vikas Mandal), is continuing its efforts in the Language Access Collaborative program.

On Oct. 19, Language Access Coordinator Susan Clifford visited with the Morrisville team during its monthly team meeting to provide guidance on the draft language access plan and budget, which was submitted for review on Nov. 1.

On Nov. 16, Clifford made herself available to meet virtually with the Morrisville team to answer any questions and review the draft language access plan and budget.

On Nov. 21, each local government and their community partner were required to present their draft plans during the monthly virtual workshop. Each team had co-presenters: one representative from the government entity and one from the community partner agency. Presentations included proposed policies and the proposed language services structure. Discussions were held following the presentations.

Morrisville’s draft language access plan includes the following components:

• Departmental Assessment
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Language Data Collection
• Strategic Languages
• Accessibility and Inclusion
• Policies
• Procedures
• Action Plan

The Town of Morrisville’s language access plan will serve as an action-oriented implementation plan to ensure compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits recipients of federal financial assistance, including a local government and its departments, from discriminating because of race, color, or national origin in the provision of any program or activity. Under Executive Order 13166, the federal government interprets discrimination based upon national origin to include failure to ensure that persons who have “limited English proficiency” (LEP) can effectively participate in, or benefit from, federally assisted programs. Therefore, persons who, because of national origin, speak languages other than English as their primary language and who have limited ability to speak, read, write, or understand English may be entitled to language assistance under Title VI to receive a particular service, benefit, or encounter.

Providing language access in Morrisville is more than a federal mandate. It is important to the Town because we are committed to inclusivity and to building stronger community connections in as many ways as possible to expand effective engagement with those who live, work, play, and learn in our community.

Contact Wil Glenn at wglenn@morrisvillenc.gov to share input or thoughts about the Language Access Collaborative program.

Morrisville Involved in Language Access Collaborative Program

Aug. 9, 2023

 Blog Post No. 1

The Town of Morrisville is a participant in the Local Government Language Access Collaborative, a one-year interactive course designed to build capacity for North Carolina local governments to communicate with residents in community languages. The Language Access Collaborative builds relationships between local governments and community partners, who must come together as a team to design a language access plan for their city, town, or county. Morrisville is joined in our efforts by Hindi Vikas Mandal (HVM), a community organization who is a part of the Hindu Society of North Carolina (HSNC). Because Morrisville’s demographics include approximately 46 percent Asian Indian residents, and Hindi is the most spoken language other than English, the Town selected Hindi as the language to address in our language access plan.

Monthly activities began in January 2023 and will take place until January 2024. The program features seven virtual workshops and two in-person events in Chapel Hill. Following the completion of the course, which is administered by Building Integrated Communities (BIC) and funded by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation, the local government teams will be eligible for funding to assist with the implementation of their language access plan. At least one component of the language access plan must be completed by Jan. 2, 2025.

Communities joining Morrisville in the collaborative are Apex, Buncombe County, Concord, High Point, New Hanover County, Raleigh, Wilmington, and Winston-Salem.

Members of the Town of Morrisville staff involved in the course include Town Manager Martha Paige, Deputy Town Manager Brandon Zuidema, Assistant Town Manager Giselle Rodriguez-Villanueva, Director of Management Services Jeanne Hooks, and Communications & Outreach Director Wil Glenn. HVM participants are Program Coordinator Arundhati Baba and Program Coordinator Sushma Maheshwari.

In addition to the monthly virtual workshops, which include all the local governments and community partners, the Morrisville group has been regularly having lunch meetings between workshops to strategize and prepare important pieces for the language access plan.

This has also become a Town-wide effort as we assess our programs and services to identify a plan that brings value to the community and increases their access to key services.

In Morrisville, we embrace our cultural diversity. Language access is an essential step in our journey.

Please contact Wil Glenn at wglenn@morrisvillenc.gov to share input or thoughts about the Language Access Collaborative program.