SIS was recently invited by The Network of International Women for Brighton & Hove to attend their weekly drop-in at the Jubilee Library to give a presentation about SIS services and increase the attendees’ awareness of how to access information online in their preferred language. By addressing language barriers, SIS wants to ensure that all women—regardless of the language they speak—can access the help and resources they need.
The Network’s mission is to provide a safe space, social and personal support, as well as mentoring, education, training and employment opportunities so that women can make the most of opportunities that are on offer locally and have an improved quality of life. They aim to reduce social isolation and enhance a sense of belonging especially between women from diverse and marginalized backgrounds, through taking part in inclusive group activities extending to broader community cohesion and integration.
SIS Projects Coordinator Laura led the presentation, outlining the wide range of SIS services and introducing attendees to the dedicated Service User pages on the SIS website. These pages, available in 24 languages, allow Service Users to self-refer for interpreting and other support services such as Social Prescribing, explore how SIS can help them, and access a library of translated resources. The session also helped bridge the digital divide by showing them how to find this part of the website, ensuring they could navigate and use the digital resources available to them.
Around 40 women came to the drop-in and listened to the SIS presentation. Many of the attendees speak more than one language, and supported each other to meet any interpreting needs during the drop-in. People were engaged and asked some great questions, such as whether SIS services are provided free of charge. There is no charge to Services Users for any SIS services.
SIS’ Learning and Development Manager, Rosie, also attended and distributed translated referral cards and spoke to some attendees interested in becoming freelance linguists.
SIS was proud to be invited to present and talk to the Network members. It gave us the opportunity to connect with the members and to share useful information with them about the work we do providing language support at the heart of our community.
