WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewsiwre/ -- Fifteen (15) bilingual DC Government Employees and twenty (20) community members completed Multicultural Community Services' Community Interpreter Training (CIT). The Awards Ceremony will take place on Wednesday, October 8 at the Rumberos Restaurant located at 3345 14th Street, NW, Washington DC, 20010, and will feature an address by the Chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) a supporter of foreign language access and education.

Sponsors of the training program also include DC government agencies and community nonprofits in collaboration with Multicultural Community Service, such as the DC Office of Human Rights (OHR) and the Mayor's Office on Latino Affairs (OLA). The MCS training is a rigorous program insuring high quality and accurate oral interpretation services as required by the DC Language Access Act. The Community Interpreter Training (CIT) Program started in 2001 when Council Member Jim Graham, MCS and OLA realized the critical need for trained, accurate, and culturally competent interpreters. To date, 130 participants have successfully completed the training and advanced to careers as community interpreters and freelance interpreters with international institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Multicultural Community Service is pleased to be the leading not-for-profit agency transforming the language skills and abilities of our linguistically diverse population into a valuable resource for the entire community and beyond. Lillian Perdomo, Executive Director of Multicultural Community Service, states, "Immediate oral interpretation is a basic need. Without it, many of our most vulnerable community members cannot access community resources; creating isolation and despair."

Congressman Reyes offers his full support of the CIT and programs like it:

"As Chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, I understand that critical language skills are necessary to help protect our country. America is involved in many overseas missions and we are increasingly dependent on our interpreters and translators within the Intelligence Community to gather the vital information we need to achieve our military and security goals. Critical language, interpretation, and translation skills are needed to decipher information and help piece together a more cohesive intelligence

picture," said Congressman Reyes. "I want to thank everyone at the Multicultural Community Service and all the supporters of foreign language access and education, for their steadfast commitment to making sure that language is not an impediment, problem, or obstacle, but a skill, asset, and critical part of our nation's identity."

SOURCE Multicultural Community Service