‘Hola,’ gracias,’ and phrases like ¿cómo te sientes? have become familiar phrases for 20 employees at the nonprofit agency Barnabas Center thanks to conversational Spanish training they received and assistance in funding the program through CareerSource NEFL’s Customized Training Program.
Based in Fernandina Beach, Barnabas Center began in the mid-1980s when parishioners joined a St. Michael’s Catholic Church priest to launch Barnabas Center (which means ‘son of encouragement’) in a vacant church for people struggling and needing resources in the area.
Today, the nonprofit is Nassau County’s comprehensive service center – providing free medical and dental services, operating a nutrition services program in partnership with Feeding Northeast Florida and providing other short-term help. This help includes financial assistance, budgeting and financial education, clothing and household items, and referrals for additional services. The agency also operates two resale stores in Fernandina Beach and Yulee to generate operating funds and provide donations to its clients.
“We are really the only primary care clinic for residents living below the federal poverty line, providing those folks with primary dental and medical care and many other services,” said Barnabas Center CEO Jamie Reynolds.
Reynolds, who has been with the agency for almost three years, says the number of Spanish-speaking residents needing help has been increasing—estimating that about 25 percent of those using their services today speak Spanish. This prompted the agency’s Spirit Committee, a group of employees that meets once a month to devise service delivery improvements and different inclusion activities, to suggest some training in the Spanish language.
“They identified that some of our patients and clients speak only Spanish, and it’s important that our client and patient-serving professionals can communicate appropriately with them,” she said. “When the committee brought the idea to our chief administrative officer Cathy Dupuis, she looked into CareerSource Northeast Florida and found out that the organization would underwrite a conversational Spanish training for up to 20 staff members.”
With a total staff of 50, nearly half of the agency’s employees took the eight-week course.
Reynolds says the agency wanted to ensure representation from each department, which resulted in a good mix of employees—including some from its dental clinic, medical staff, nutrition department, and thrift stores, along with the agency’s staff receptionist.
“The instructor from Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ), Lissette Orengo, was amazing,” shared Nicola Barnack, the staff’s Director of Development & Communications and class participant. “The first two weeks, Lissette guided us through an overview of the language and what it would entail for us, but she soon realized that she really needed to teach us how to speak directly to speak to patients, so Lissette focused on words and phrases specific to our agency and the needs of our clients and patients: “are you in pain, are you hungry, do you need shelter and things like that. We really appreciated that she customized the class specifically for our audience.”
Barnack, who is responsible for fundraising and marketing, says she was even taught how to ask for a donation in Spanish.
“I really enjoyed it,” she said. In fact, I’ve even drawn on what I learned personally outside of work. Three weeks after the class, I was in a hotel and spoke to one of their staff members. I actually said Buenos días (good day), and she was very surprised.”
She notes that board members and funders were very supportive when they heard about the training.
“It’s been very interesting that everyone we’ve told about the program has really appreciated it, because it’s clear there are barriers to communication here, and oftentimes, not all of us were completely inclusive of their needs,” she said. Now, at least we can communicate, even for some of us on a very basic level just to say good morning, and I really enjoy that.”
In working with companies and nonprofit agencies like Barnabas Center, CareerSource NEFL acts as a funding partner and coordinates with outside educational advisors like FSCJ to provide the training and funds to offset the full training costs.
Carol Cullen, the industry manager for Healthcare at CareerSource NEFL, says this was one of the first times a healthcare provider had used customized training funds to learn a foreign language to help improve customer communication.
“It really represents the broad application of our customized training program and how companies and nonprofit agencies like Barnabas Center can use these funds for many types of training when it comes to upskilling employees,” she said. CEO Reynolds adds that she would encourage any nonprofit agency to partner with CareerSource NEFL regarding employee training. “CareerSource Northeast Florida was very easy to work with, and without its help, this training may not have occurred for some time, if at all,” she said. “Also, this was a wonderful way to embrace the wants and needs of our staff. You could see it on everybody’s faces…they were proud. It was a nice way to benefit our team, and the class also allowed those who participated to learn a little more about each other.”