Community Foundation Awards $2,500 to MAMI Interpreters
To Support Director Brown's 'Interpreting for Peace' Training

UTICA, July 8, 2010 – The Community Foundation of Herkimer & Oneida Counties Inc. has awarded a $2,500 grant to MAMI Interpreters in support of Executive Director Cornelia Brown’s “Interpreting for Peace” training at Middlebury College Language Schools in Vermont.

Brown is a 2010 Kathryn Davis Fellow for Peace, spending the summer immersed in Russian studies. She was selected as a working professional promoting conflict resolution; specifically, leading an initiative to train court interpreters across Central New York. Fluent in Russian, Brown decided to take the New York State court interpreter exams herself to gain better insight into the preparation needed to prepare others to be court interpreters, and is using the Davis fellowship at Middlebury to improve her oral use of Russian grammar and idiom. She has passed the NY State written exam and plans to take the state oral exam.

Russian, the language Brown is studying, is only one of about 40 languages needed in Central New York courts and other legal settings such as domestic violence and child protection, noted Mary Stronach, who is interim executive director for the duration of Brown’s sabbatical. MAMI has been developing a two-part court interpreting course to prepare interpreters to take the state exams, she said.

 The Community Foundation has been a force for improving lives and promoting philanthropy throughout Herkimer and Oneida counties since 1952 and has made more than 4,300 grants totaling over $34.3 million. Grants are generated by more than 270 funds that comprise The Foundation’s endowment, established and advanced by area individuals and families.

With offices in Utica and Syracuse, MAMI provides interpreting and translating for health, legal and community agencies. MAMI also offers ESL (English as second language) classes in specialty areas and culturally mediated seminars for limited-English populations.

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