Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
Gazettes Town-News > Archives > Community News > Sign Language, Interpreting Agency Celebrates 10 Years
If it takes months or even years for most new businesses to turn a profit, then LiNKS Sign Language and Interpreting Services is a bit of an anomaly.
According to LiNKS Director Chuck Scarpaci, the agency has been lucrative since its inception.
“Our business has gone all over the place,” Scarpaci said. “But it’s been profitable from day one… Even with the economy the way it is, we’ve held our own very well.”
At the time of LiNKS’s formation in 1999, Goodwill Serving the People of Southern Los Angeles County (SOLAC) was experiencing financial cutbacks. Scarpaci said reductions in government funding and grants prompted Goodwill SOLAC to seek additional revenue sources.
to support its job training programs. LiNKS began as a means to supplement Goodwill SOLAC’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program.
And although the business has evolved since then, LiNKS’s original mission to serve the deaf and hard of hearing by connecting them with professional and dedicated interpreters remains.
“Customer satisfaction and customer service are important,” Scarpaci said. “That’s half the reason why we are where we are today. We are taking care of the deaf consumer with the appropriate interpreter. If we lose sight of the deaf consumer, we’re in the wrong business.”
On Friday, LiNKS will celebrate its 10th anniversary by honoring three of its interpreters: Gloria Williams, Julia Virak and Daisy Cardenas.
Cardenas, a trilingual interpreter, exemplifies LiNKS’ development over the years. At the onset, LiNKS primarily functioned as an American sign language interpreting service. Now, it offers multi-lingual interpreting services in Spanish, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Korean and Chinese. Of the more than 175 interpreters and translators in LiNKS’ registry, 15 possess trilingual abilities.
Cardenas serves as the communicative link between Spanish-speaking families who have a deaf or hard-of-hearing member and their counselor, social worker or doctor, among other professionals, who under certain circumstances may only speak English.
Cecily Foster, an in-home outreach counselor for El Centro del Pueblo, a nonprofit that provides social services to families in the greater Los Angeles area, works with Cardenas virtually every day. Foster, who does not know American Sign Language nor does she speak Spanish, provides family intervention counseling for the Deaf Services Unit of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. She helps families re-stabilize themselves after child abuse or general neglect, among other instances, occurs. Without Cardenas’s assistance, Foster said she wouldn’t be able to do her job.
“Every meeting I have with a family, there is a representative from LiNKS with me to ensure communication is done properly,” Foster said. “…Some of the topics we talk about and their serious nature are very complex. She (Cardenas) is able to stay right there with me.”
Over the past decade, LiNKS has served more than 27,500 deaf and hard-of-hearing clients in such areas as education, social services, business, healthcare, police and government agencies, entertainment and more. Scarpaci said he hopes to expand LiNKS’ reach into spoken-language interpreting as well as technology by developing remote interpreting services through video conferencing.
“Our business today, over 10 years ago, includes a broad base of different markets,” Scarpaci said. “That’s why we’re staying afloat.”
For more information about LiNKS Sign Language and Interpreting Services, call (888) 742-0070 or visit American Sign Language Interpreting Los Angeles/Long Beach.
If it takes months or even years for most new businesses to turn a profit, then LiNKS Sign Language and Interpreting Services is a bit of an anomaly.
According to LiNKS Director Chuck Scarpaci, the agency has been lucrative since its inception.
“Our business has gone all over the place,” Scarpaci said. “But it’s been profitable from day one… Even with the economy the way it is, we’ve held our own very well.”
At the time of LiNKS’s formation in 1999, Goodwill Serving the People of Southern Los Angeles County (SOLAC) was experiencing financial cutbacks. Scarpaci said reductions in government funding and grants prompted Goodwill SOLAC to seek additional revenue sources.
to support its job training programs. LiNKS began as a means to supplement Goodwill SOLAC’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program.
And although the business has evolved since then, LiNKS’s original mission to serve the deaf and hard of hearing by connecting them with professional and dedicated interpreters remains.
“Customer satisfaction and customer service are important,” Scarpaci said. “That’s half the reason why we are where we are today. We are taking care of the deaf consumer with the appropriate interpreter. If we lose sight of the deaf consumer, we’re in the wrong business.”
On Friday, LiNKS will celebrate its 10th anniversary by honoring three of its interpreters: Gloria Williams, Julia Virak and Daisy Cardenas.
Cardenas, a trilingual interpreter, exemplifies LiNKS’ development over the years. At the onset, LiNKS primarily functioned as an American sign language interpreting service. Now, it offers multi-lingual interpreting services in Spanish, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Korean and Chinese. Of the more than 175 interpreters and translators in LiNKS’ registry, 15 possess trilingual abilities.
Cardenas serves as the communicative link between Spanish-speaking families who have a deaf or hard-of-hearing member and their counselor, social worker or doctor, among other professionals, who under certain circumstances may only speak English.
Cecily Foster, an in-home outreach counselor for El Centro del Pueblo, a nonprofit that provides social services to families in the greater Los Angeles area, works with Cardenas virtually every day. Foster, who does not know American Sign Language nor does she speak Spanish, provides family intervention counseling for the Deaf Services Unit of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. She helps families re-stabilize themselves after child abuse or general neglect, among other instances, occurs. Without Cardenas’s assistance, Foster said she wouldn’t be able to do her job.
“Every meeting I have with a family, there is a representative from LiNKS with me to ensure communication is done properly,” Foster said. “…Some of the topics we talk about and their serious nature are very complex. She (Cardenas) is able to stay right there with me.”
Over the past decade, LiNKS has served more than 27,500 deaf and hard-of-hearing clients in such areas as education, social services, business, healthcare, police and government agencies, entertainment and more. Scarpaci said he hopes to expand LiNKS’ reach into spoken-language interpreting as well as technology by developing remote interpreting services through video conferencing.
“Our business today, over 10 years ago, includes a broad base of different markets,” Scarpaci said. “That’s why we’re staying afloat.”
For more information about LiNKS Sign Language and Interpreting Services, call (888) 742-0070 or visit American Sign Language Interpreting Los Angeles/Long Beach.