Press Release

NYC Civic Engagement Commission Convenes Community Organizations, Advocates, and Public Institutions to Discuss Civic Participation Across Language Communities

The “Building Civic Power Across Languages” convening focused on language access, trusted community partnerships, and year-round civic engagement.

NEW YORK – The NYC Civic Engagement Commission (CEC) hosted “Building Civic Power Across Languages: Centering Language Communities in NYC’s Civic Life,” a convening bringing together community organizations, advocates, public officials, and civic engagement leaders to discuss barriers to civic participation and strategies for strengthening voter engagement across immigrant and limited English proficient (LEP) communities in New York City. 

Hosted by the Commission’s Charter-mandated Voter Language Assistance (VLA) Program, the convening featured Commissioner Faiza Ali from the NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA); Jerry Vattamala, Assistant Attorney General for Voting Rights at the New York Attorney General’s Office; Christina Ozual from the New York Immigration Coalition; Orlando T. Ovalles from NALEO Educational Fund; Mia Lewis from Common Cause New York; Leah Wong from the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF); as well as NYC Civic Engagement Commission Chair and Executive Director Dr. Sarah Sayeed.

The convening brought together over 70 community representatives, as well as representatives from ethnic media and city agencies, to discuss barriers and solutions related to civic participation across language communities. Participants identified key challenges including language access, distrust of government, lack of understanding of civic processes, immigration fears, socioeconomic obstacles, and limited awareness of engagement opportunities. The discussions were facilitated by members of the Language Assistance Advisory Committee, which plays a vital role in informing the CEC’s voter language assistance work.  

Dr. Sarah Sayeed noted that a healthy democracy requires active and informed participation of all New Yorkers, across language backgrounds, and reaffirmed her commitment to working with community organizations and advocates to ensure language and immigrant communities are fully included in NYC’s civic fabric. 

Commissioner Faiza N. Ali noted MOIA’s role in ensuring City government and services are accessible to all New Yorkers by guiding City agencies’ language access work, underscoring that achieving language justice for New York City’s diverse language and immigrant communities involves far more than simply translating materials. 

Assistant Attorney General Vattamala recounted the range of voter protections available to all New York voters, including language access protections under the federal Voting Rights Act and the New York John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act. He noted that the New York Attorney General’s Office remains committed to safeguarding legal protections and accessibility for voters. 

Panelists and attendees discussed the importance of building long-term civic engagement infrastructure across language communities and strengthening partnerships between public institutions and community-based organizations already deeply rooted in immigrant communities across the city. 

Orlando R. Ovalles, Northeast Director of Civic Engagement at NALEO Educational Fund, noted that one of the most significant barriers facing the Latino community remains the lack of timely and accurate information about civic processes. He stressed the importance of culturally and linguistically accessible outreach and education programs to address that challenge.  

Nia Alvarez-Mapp, Organizing Manager with Common Cause New York, spoke about the organization’s advocacy efforts to introduce Ranked Choice Voting for local office primaries in New York City and the challenges of educating language and immigrant communities about the process.  

Leah Wong, Director of the Voting Rights Project al AALDEF, discussed the work AALDEF has done to advocate for language access and other policies and strategies to educate and mobilize Asian communities, noting that New York State and City institutions have been receptive to working with advocacy organizations. 

Since November 2020, the Voter Language Assistance Program has assisted more than 10,700 voters through nonpartisan interpretation services and currently provides services in 13 languages across select jurisdictions in New York City, including Albanian, Arabic, Bangla, Chinese, French, Greek, Haitian Creole, Italian, Korean, Polish, Russian, Urdu, and Yiddish. Additionally, the Commission provides multilingual outreach materials for each election. For the June Primary, the Commission will offer interpretation services at 50 early voting poll sites and 100 Election Day poll sites.  

Anila Cobo, Director of the Voter Language Assistance Program at CEC, highlighted the Commission’s community partnership initiative launched in 2025 to support nonpartisan voter education and outreach through trusted community organizations. Through these partnerships, more than 1,500 limited English proficient voters will have received information about voter rights and language assistance resources by June 2026.  

In addition to panel discussions, attendees participated in small-group conversations focused on identifying barriers to participation, sharing outreach strategies, and discussing ways to strengthen year-round civic engagement across New York City’s growing language communities. 

Attendees also shared effective outreach strategies, such as partnering with trusted community leaders and cultural institutions, using multilingual and in-person outreach, leveraging social media and messaging platforms, integrating civic engagement into community events, and providing practical support such as transportation to polling sites. Participants emphasized the need for stronger language access, year-round civic education, deeper community listening, expanded partnerships, and more targeted outreach tailored to the needs of different language and age groups. Emerging concerns included the impact of disinformation and artificial intelligence on civic engagement and public trust. 

The event highlighted the importance of language access as a foundation for civic participation, while also emphasizing that trusted relationships, culturally relevant outreach, and sustained community engagement are critical in helping immigrant and language communities feel informed, included, and confident participating in civic life. 

About the Civic Engagement Commission

The NYC Civic Engagement Commission (CEC) was established through a ballot initiative in November 2018. CEC is a nonpartisan agency charged with enhancing civic participation and democracy in NYC. The NYC charter mandates the CEC to work with specific underrepresented populations, including youth, seniors, immigrants and limited English speakers, people with disabilities, veterans, public housing residents and justice involved individuals to increase their participation. The following represent the Commission’s focus areas: 
 

• Voter Language Assistance: Voter interpretation services for language communities and jurisdictions not covered by the Board of Elections (BOE).  

• The People’s Money Participatory Budgeting process: A democratic process where New Yorkers age 11 and up decide how to spend part of a public budget, from proposing ideas to voting them. 

• Community Board Assistance: Capacity building assistance for 59 community boards in NYC.  
• Task Force for Racial Equity and Inclusion (TRIE) Neighborhood Initiative: Resource-sharing and partnership building with NYC communities.