Communications, Engagement, and Translation

This project will serve the City of McMinnville and its residents by translating the City Code and all externally facing core service forms and applications into Spanish. Approximately 25% of the McMinnville population identifies as Hispanic. Approximately 20% of McMinnville residents do not speak English at home. Additionally, software and applications are available that will enable communication using the channels used most today – namely phones and tablets.

The city has already translated some documents into Spanish and translation services are provided when requested. Shifting our communication strategy not only to translate forms into Spanish, but also to create communication tools that can be translated in real time will provide access to government meetings and engage a large portion of the McMinnville community that has limited access.

This project will also meet the City’s goals to provide equitable access to all public meetings, both in a virtual environment and in person. The project’s outcomes will stretch beyond basic translation of documents to include livestream meetings with closed caption subtitles in both English and Spanish. Additionally, ongoing communication through social media, websites and other updates will be instantly available in many languages using the proposed software. This project will expand economic prosperity, leadership and public engagement opportunities. The outcomes will align with city values including equity and courage with an eye on the future of our community.