Several programs at Madison House strive to service the large Hispanic community in Charlottesville, a community of around 13,000 residents. Volunteers with programs through Latinx and Migrant Aid (LAMA), Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Creating Assets, Savings & Hope (CASH), UVA Health, and the Charlottesville Free Clinic specifically provide Spanish language services. Programs like Multilingual Learning and Thomas Jefferson Adult Career Education provide English language instruction for speakers of Spanish, as well as many other languages.

Sin Barreras is a local non-profit that provides free English language instruction to Hispanic immigrants. Madison House volunteers for Sin Barreras meet weekly with their students and complete lesson plans that contain relevant vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation tactics. Not only is the goal to increase English fluency, but also the confidence of the students to use their language skills in their daily lives.

Cecilia Murphy, a Madison House volunteer, explains how one of her student’s experiences with Sin Barreras positively impacted his work atmosphere. “Last year, my student worked at Chick-fil-A but struggled to pronounce many of the menu items,” says Cecilia. “We spent a lesson going through the different pronunciations and spellings so that he could better communicate with his manager and customers.”

Third-year student and Madison House volunteer Reed Keller agrees that the program is vital to the community, adding, “Sin Barreras is important to the Charlottesville community because it directly impacts the lives of non-English speakers who wish to learn the language. Learning to speak English is a difficult task and it can be costly to hire a private tutor, but through Sin Barreras these individuals can improve their English without cost and in turn be equipped with knowledge to excel in our community.”

Other programs, such as VITA/CASH, serve the broader Charlottesville community and have recently expanded their services for Spanish-speaking clients, offering more appointments with bilingual volunteers and providing a Spanish language website and informational materials.

According to CASH Co-Head Program Director, Andrew Jones, translation services play a big role in serving Spanish-speaking clients. “It is absolutely necessary that we fully understand and address the financial situation for clients,” says Andrew. Being able to provide tax preparation services in a client’s first language increases their understanding and confidence.

“Economic empowerment and financial support are so important for everyone to have, and offering free tax services goes a long way towards lifting up the Charlottesville community,” says Andrew. “By completing these [bilingual] returns, CASH is able to save clients from navigating the tax code on their own or hiring a financial advisor, which can be very stressful and costly. It's especially great when CASH helps clients utilize credits, deductions, and other parts of the tax code to get a large refund, which can be a huge relief.”

Together, these Madison House programs work to empower Charlottesville’s Hispanic community by providing essential language and financial services. Whether helping someone gain confidence in English or guiding them through their W-2 forms, Madison House volunteers are striving to make the larger community increasingly inclusive and supportive.

By Cecilia Murphy