NLSC Washington D.C. Regional Chapter Enjoys Chinese Brush Painting Workshop

Twenty-three National Language Service Corps (NLSC) Members from the Washington D.C. Regional Chapter participated in a Chinese Brush Painting Workshop at the Metropolitan Center for the Visual Arts (VisArts) in Rockville, MD on November 5, 2016.

NLSC Washington D.C. Regional Chapter Learns about The Language Flagship

On Saturday, March 5, 2016, the National Language Service Corps (NLSC) Washington D.C. Regional Chapter met for its first event of 2016: a keynote luncheon highlighting the Arabic Flagship Program of the University of Maryland College Park (UMD). 

Members complete Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training to prepare for NLSC assignments

In January 2015, National Language Service Corps (NLSC) Members in three of its four Regional Chapters chose to participate in a nationwide emergency preparedness initiative known as Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). 

Professional development opportunity

The English for Heritage Language Speakers (EHLS) program is an adult scholarship and professional development opportunity which may be of interest!

EHLS is an intensive, advanced English and professional skills program that prepares nonnative English speakers for careers with the federal government. The program involves 6 months of full-time study at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, followed by two months of part-time study which can be completed remotely. Participants improve their English through study of research and presentation skills, meeting participation and facilitation, and professional writing. The program also provides support for participants who are seeking employment with the federal government.

Full scholarships, a living stipend (during the full-time portion of the program), and a relocation reimbursement are available for qualified applicants. EHLS is currently seeking US citizens who are native speakers of Arabic, Balochi, Dari, Hausa, Hindi, Igbo, Mandarin Chinese, Pashto, Persian Farsi, Punjabi, Somali, Swahili, Turkish, or Urdu.

Please visit http://www.cal.org/ehls/ for more information and contact ehls@cal.org with any questions.

EHLS and the NLSC are initiatives of the National Security Education Program (now the Defense Language and National Security Education Office, or DLNSEO).

The Festival of Light

On October 4, 2009 the NLSC participated in a local recruiting event at the Diwali Mela 2009 also known as the Festival of Light. We discovered this event after speaking with the organizer from a previous event, and it was well worth the our particpation. In the words of the event organizers, the Festival of light was a celebration of the “ageless culture of India by touch and taste” and was organized by 14 local Hindu and Jain temples in the Washington Metro area.

The Festival of Light was held in Fairfax VA at the George Mason Patriot Center, and there were over 500 attendees from predominantly Hindi speaking communities from the DC, Maryland, and Virginia areas. Additionally, there were many individuals who spoke a number of less common Indian dialects represented at the festival. The one-day festival began at 12:00 pm and ended at 10:00 pm, and featured international vendors selling traditional Indian clothing, cuisine, jewelry, furniture, and other cultural items. There were also many businesses and non-profits catering to the Indian community, including a student association, real estate, insurance, and medical businesses.

Many people came to our table to inquire about the NLSC. Fortunately, we were right in front of the main stage, so we were able to watch and enjoy traditional Indian dancing and singing. Overall it was a great event, and I hope we go back next year!

In the Big Apple for the first Asian MBA conference

We were at the First Annual Asian MBA conference in New York last weekend, and we were very glad to be there.



We found out about this conference by accident: we bumped into the CEO of the conference at the NAAAP conference in Denver last month. We were there to recruit, he was there to get the word out about his new event. He was intrigued with our mission and invited us to come. We took the invitation back to our offices and the team quickly agreed we ought to go.

We haven't heard what the final attendance was, but I'm sure I saw at least 1,000 in the career expo hall. We met a lot of people ... mostly Mandarin speakers but some Thai and Hindi as well. We were also on the lookout for Indonesian and Vietnamese speakers. We even had a Hausa speaker come by; she filled out an application on the spot! Many were students enrolled in MBA programs I think it's safe to say that there will be a second annual conference and it'll be on our list of places to be.

Fall conferences where you'll find our recruiters

September 10-12: Our recruiters will be at the first ever Asian MBA (AMBA) leadership Conference & Career Expo is a ground-breaking event with a mission to connect and empower top Asian American MBAs and professionals. Jacob Javits Center, New York City.

October 10: We will be at the APEX (Asian Professional Exchange) Career Symposium, the the largest career development conference dedicated to the Asian Pacific American professionals in the L.A. area. The goal of this event is to provide opportunities for qualified students and professionals at various levels to network with senior executives and recruiters from major corporations. Los Angeles, Wilshire Grand Hotel.

November 20 - 22: This will be our second visit as an exhibitor to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Annual Convention and World Languages Expo. This event brings together more than 6,000 teachers, administrators, method instructors and students of foreign languages at all levels from across the world. San Diego, San Diego Convention Center.

A great NAAAP conference in Denver

We were exhibitors at the August 13-15 annual conference and job fair of the National Association of Asian-American Professionals (the NAAAP) in Denver, and we had a phenomenal response!

Speakers of Mandarin, Catonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Hindi and Indonesian all came by to learn more about us, and several filled out applications on the spot. Two individuals came by with completed applications already in-hand. They had learned of us before the conference, downloaded applications from our web site, filled them out and brought them to our booth.

We also made contact with several companies at the conference who have affinity programs for their heritage speakers, companies who encourage their employees to engage in voluntary service. We hope to build relationships with these affinity programs and reach potential NLSC members we might not otherwise reach.

So don't be surprised to see us at next year's NAAAP conference in San Francisco!

Charter Members and staff comment on the NLSC and being involved

At our meeting with several NLSC Charter Members last month we had a video crew ask those members and staff about the NLSC and their involvement. Here are the highlights.

Here's a larger version:

New video explains the NLSC

Here's the video we've been talking about, which we unveiled at our meeting with several NLSC Charter Members earlier this month. We added a new ending, calling for the viewer to volunteer, which is why we didn't post it immediately after the event ... we pulled together the original on a VERY tight schedule, so we didn't have time to have the alternate ending ready at the same time. So without further adieu, here it is:

Here's a larger version:

Our first TV ad

We're running our first TV advertisement ... It's in Hindi on Zee TV in the San Franciso Bay area.

Larger view:

Making contacts in Los Angeles

While we were in LA recently, we made a point to reach out to some local contacts and organizations.

We met with Mobin Khan, a Hindi-speaking NLSC Member. He informed us that there are large Hindi-speaking populations in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Jersey, so we should look into Indian community events in those places. He added that he would let us know when he hears about any upcoming Hindi festivals. He mentioned that it would be great to have some Hindi-speaking NLSC Members at those events. So thanks to everyone we met!

We also met with Susan Choi, the Program Manager for PALS for Health, an organization that provides interpreters for healthcare patients with limited English skills. After we explained the NLSC’s mission and objectives, she offered to assist us in a number of ways, including 

• posting a blurb about the NLSC on the PALS for Health website


• publishing an article about the NLSC in the newsletter for the California Healthcare Interpreting Association (CHIA) and posting a listing on the CHIA jobs website inviting members to apply


• sending our recruitment email and/or e-brochures to the PALS for Health listserv


• distributing our Mandarin, Russian, Vietnamese, Thai, and Indonesian print brochures at the various events that she attends


• sending us contacts for other groups that she believes would be willing and able to assist us in our recruitment efforts

Next we met with the board of the South Bay Vietnamese Cultural Center (SBVCC), who were very interested in our cause. They provided some great leads for marketing and outreach, such as the local Vietnamese radio and TV stations that broadcast to the Southern California Vietnamese community. They also recommended that we contact the Union of Vietnamese Student Associations of Southern California (UVSA). It turns out the UVSA has a big annual event that we just missed this year, but the NLSC should definitely look into attending next year.

In addition to giving us leads, the SBVCC board offered to email their listserv on our behalf, and we provided them with a large amount of our Vietnamese print brochures, which they plan to mail to their members and hand out at their church. We also met with Hamid Khan, Executive Director, and Ranjeeta Chhetry of South Asian Network (SAN). This meeting was very important because we learned about the challenges that we may face in working with some community/non-profit organizations. SAN does a lot of work promoting basic rights (immigration, public health, violence prevention, hate crime / discrimination and civil liberties) for the Indian community in the LA area. Ms. Chhetry said that she would be happy to distribute our Hindi-language brochures at a Town Hall event being held on April 15th. They also provided the names of a couple of newspapers that reach the Southern California Hindi Community (India Journal and India Post).

In Los Angeles for the Thai New Year festival

Four of our team were in Los Angeles to promote the NLSC at the 6th Annual Thai New Year Songkran Festival on Hollywood Boulevard. We set up a booth near one of the stages, spoke with many people, distributed brochures and business cards. At one point, Ben Komenkul, President of the Thai Association of Southern California, and NLSC staff got up on one of the stages to announce the NLSC and invite everyone to visit our booth, in English AND Thai, which was very cool.

Mr. Komenkul is undoubtedly one of the best connected community leaders in Thai Town, and is very excited about our organizations. He referred us to some Thai newspapers (Asia Pacific, Serechai, Siam Media, Thai LA, Khaosod, and Thai Town) and provided us with some valuable feedback about our application and our Thai print brochure.

As a bonus ... the event was held near LA's Little Armenia, so quite a few Russian speakers came by. Staffer Bonnie surprised them by speaking to them in Russian, and several filled out our contact cards.

New marketing campaign begins

We've just launched a new market campaign in print and online media.  We're focusing on five of our ten target languages ... Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, Hindi and Indonesian.  A multicultural marketing firm helped us identify specific newspapers and web site to target.  When appropriate, the ads are in the specific language, otherwise they are in English.  

This campaign is scheduled to run for ten weeks.