MCDHH’s Workforce Development Program is implementing a robust, multifaceted, multiyear plan to create a stable communication access provider workforce, increased in numbers and diversity, reflective of the communities it serves. MCDHH is taking steps to both increase the numbers of ASL/English Interpreters and CART Providers across the Commonwealth, and to increase the diversity in those provider pools.
The intent of the Program is to remedy and bridge gaps in service, as well as gaps in outreach to and education of underserved and historically overlooked communities. This will provide an augmented and robust pipeline of providers in conjunction with the pool of providers currently in place, with the goal of creating an inclusive, nondiscriminatory working environment that promotes growth and retention in the field.
In short, over a period of a few years, MCDHH’s Workforce Development Program will address every part of the pipeline from a person’s first exposure to the field of communication access all the way through to job satisfaction and retention in the field ten years after becoming an Interpreter or CART Provider.
The Workforce Development Coordinator, under the supervision of the Director of Communication Access Services, will be at the helm of this Program, fostering collaboration and innovation both within MCDHH and the Secretariat, and across the Commonwealth, to ensure the goals and objectives of the Program are met.
