Woori Juntos service coordinator Terry Yun listens and provides translation services for a couple at the Korean Community Center in the Spring Branch district of Houston on Feb. 23, 2023. Woori Juntos, meaning “we rise together” in a combination of Korean and Spanish, is a local community group working to eliminate language barriers to health and social services.This story is the first in a series about Texans seeking to have their voices heard during the legislative session.
For many of them, a state that conducts its business only in English and Spanish stands on the far side of a wall between them and the safety net that many low-income Texans rely on to make ends meet, to cover health services and, ultimately, to live — and to do it with dignity. “All these little things are not little to them,” Yun said of the requirements her clients must decipher in a second language. “They’re mountainous.”
Yun has helped people apply for Social Security benefits, Medicaid, food stamps and housing assistance. She’s accompanied them to doctor’s appointments ahead of major surgeries. She’s thumbed through their mail for important notices and has instructed them to disregard shoddy promotionals that come into their email. She knows the income limits for supplemental income benefits off the top of her head.
A young Yun listened from the backseat as her father asked the driver what they could do to repay him for his generosity. Down the road, he replied, when you are in a better place and you encounter someone who has less than you and needs your help, just help them.Her parents eventually found work in maintenance at the since-renamed Sharpstown Mall, physical jobs that didn’t require them to speak much. She was an immigrant herself, but Yun said it was easier for her to “adapt.
Yun regularly helps clients apply for government benefits, such as Medicaid, supplemental income and food stamps.A new form to be filled out. A new notice to be deciphered. A new letter to draft or call to be made checking on the status of a waylaid application. On the other end of the tasks Yun performs almost daily are crucial benefits her clients rely on.
Renewals are typically quicker than applying for Medicaid initially — an endeavor that often takes the better part of a day, Yun said. Still, she left a three-hour gap for this appointment.
Read the Requirements....Silly Clowns..... Learn American Law.....as you leave here....
Korea’s want TX state services and their language spoken. Ok… are they immigrants?
Sounds like an inspiring experience! It's great to see communities coming together to support each other.
They need to speak English. It's so much better for them to learn the language. It opens up so many more opportunities.
How many languages? What's the standard? What's the limit?
This is the United States of America. Our native tongue is ENGLISH! Period. When immigrants passed through Ellis Island they knew it was their job to assimilate. If you are going to live in my country…assimilate and speak my language. I don’t learn your language. You learn mine.
This exactly why Texas must recognize English as its official state language. This would take away language barriers, streamline assimilation, and create a linguistically unified state.