Commissioner Ali details language access and community engagement work
Ali outlines MOIA's oversight of 46 agencies' language access implementation, serving 1.8M New Yorkers with limited English proficiency. She describes the April citywide language access coordinators convening, in-house translation team, 300+ immigrant rights workshops, and ethnic media roundtables.
I also wanted to provide an update on MOYA's language access work, an area that impacts nearly every aspect of city government.
MOYA oversees and monitors and provides technical assistance to more than 46 city agencies in implementing language access services.
Language justice is not simply a
compliance obligation.
It is a core equity and public trust issue.
New Yorkers cannot fully access critical services or exercise their rights or meaningfully engage with city government if language remains a barrier to information, to care, or participation.
This work impacts approximately 1.8 million New Yorkers with limited English proficiency and is essential to ensuring equitable access to city services.
On April 17th, MOIA convened all of the city's language access coordinators for a historic citywide meeting and launched working groups focused on strengthening relationships
with language service providers, multilingual strategic communication and engagement,
bilingual talent and language access training, as well as language access in data and evaluation.
In addition, MOIA has built an in-house language services team that provides translation and interpretation support to mayoral
offices and city hall.
Thus far in FY26, the team has delivered translation and interpretation services to 37 mayoral offices and agencies.
The LS team has also provided on-site language support at migrant centers and played a critical role in rapidly translating updated shelter protocol for recent arrivals.
On community engagement, finally, I wanted to share that MOYA's community engagement work helps immigrant New Yorkers access services, understand their rights, and stay connected to trusted information during a time of
heightened fear and uncertainty.
Through our immigrant rights workshops, MOIA staff deliver presentations that connect community organizations and their members to free, high-quality immigration legal services and know your rights resources.
In FY26, the program delivered over 300 presentations, reaching over 7,000 people citywide, continuing our critical work reaching diverse communities where they are.
MOIA also continues to strengthen relationships with trusted ethnic and community media outlets that serve immigrant New Yorkers in multiple languages.
In the past year, MOIA has led 10 community and ethnic media roundtables to share critical information through hyperlocal newspapers and television stations that immigrant communities rely on for timely and accurate information.
So far during my tenure, we have convened three such roundtables with additional sessions scheduled for this summer.
In conclusion, MOYA was created to ensure that immigrant New Yorkers can fully participate in the civic, economic, and cultural life of the city.
And that mission is especially important and critical during periods of rapid policy change and growing uncertainty for immigrant communities.
Meeting this moment requires strong coordination across agencies, deep partnership with community-based organizations, and continued investment in the systems that help immigrant New Yorkers
access services, understand their rights, and remain connected to their neighborhoods and opportunities.
As the needs facing immigrant communities continue to evolve,
MOIA will remain focused on building trust, on strengthening that coordination, and ensuring New York City remains a place where immigrant families can live with dignity, safety, and opportunity.