Increasing Access to Critical Multilingual Public Information
Ensuring that all citizens are tuned in to announcements, news, and other information that is relevant to their community is key to Soofa’s mission. As Soofa Signs seek to connect diverse, multilingual communities, cities are using Soofa Signs to make governmental updates, public health guidelines, and other relevant neighborhood news accessible to all citizens through multilingual messaging.
The City of Revere, just a few minutes from Boston, boasts a diverse community—with over 20,000 Revere residents born outside of the United States, the city blends a variety of nationalities, ethnicities, and languages into its cultural fabric.
To ensure that all residents can access important public health reminders, city updates, and community resources in their native languages, the City posted COVID-19 guidelines and CDC reminders to the Soofa Signs in both English and Spanish.
The City also highlighted its COVID-19 text messaging service on the Soofa Signs in multiple languages and provided passersby with a QR code for easy access.
Revere is also getting the word out about community resources, like local food pantry offerings, in four languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic. In addition to having a large Spanish-speaking population, a significant portion of Revere’s residents speak Portuguese and Arabic (~1,726 and ~2,900, respectively).
Revere’s multilingual use of the Soofa Signs complements other public health PSA campaigns the city has spearheaded, including its “Wear One For Me” campaign, where the City has made the campaign’s downloadable flyers and social media content available in four languages.
In addition to posting to the digital screen in multiple languages, cities can also permanently display important information in multiple languages on the Soofa Sign’s full-color vinyl. The City of Revere designed a custom infographic outlining social distance best practices, while also listing out city resources available to Revere residents in both English and Spanish.
Revere is not the only Boston-area city to enact multilingual communications on their Soofa Signs - the City of Boston and the Town of Brookline have both implemented the Soofa Signs as a tool to reach more constituents in their native languages. In Brookline, the Town has posted content in Spanish encouraging residents to attend the Town’s Community Discussions and Open House events, while the City of Boston posted COVID-19 guidelines in Vietnamese and Spanish with accompanying universally-understood infographics demonstrating hand-washing, social distancing, and disinfecting surfaces.
Soofa Signs are not only keeping citizens aware of public health guidelines or evolving COVID-19 information - they’re also reminding passersby of their civic duty! Soofa shared voting information in multiple languages on the Signs leading up to the 2020 General Election. To ensure that language was not a barrier for eligible voters to keep important dates and deadlines straight, Soofa translated election information - including voter registration guidelines, steps to request a mail-in ballot, early voting information, nearby polling locations, and more - in English, Spanish, and Portuguese on all Signs across the Greater Boston and Atlanta areas.
Soofa Signs bring critical information and relevant neighborhood news directly to the locations where people live, work, and play. Soofa’s online platform, SoofaTalk, allows users to easily create content in a variety of languages while also giving them the option to use photos, images, or graphics to complement their message. The screen rotates its display every few minutes, showing the same announcement in multiple languages for optimal user accessibility.