Help Enforcing Your Right to an Interpreter From Community Justice Project
Community Justice Project is a nonprofit law office that represents people with limited English proficiency when agencies that receive federal money fail to provide interpretation or translation.
Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, agencies that receive federal funding must provide language access, including interpretation and translation of vital documents, to individuals with limited English proficiency. Agencies that receive federal funding include most state and local agencies, such as subsidized housing providers, schools, police departments, courts and hospitals. Community Justice Project represents clients with limited English proficiency in enforcing those rights.
Representation is free. Community Justice Project is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that provides free representation to low-income people, funded by IOLTA, grants, attorneys fees and donations. To qualify you must be income-eligible for legal aid services, which usually means your income is within 187% of the federal poverty limit, depending on family size.
The work described covers both individual cases and statewide change. On behalf of four residents with limited English proficiency living in project-based Section 8 housing near Pittsburgh, the office filed an administrative complaint with HUD alleging that a nationwide property management company was failing to provide interpretation and translation to tenants, and that the property was not maintained as well as the company's other properties because it sits in a predominately Black and Latino community. That case ended in a nationwide agreement requiring the company to provide language access services across all of its subsidized properties, and the clients received financial compensation. The office also filed Title VI administrative complaints against the Hazleton Police Department for failing to provide interpreters during important interactions with residents with limited English proficiency; the Department of Justice investigated and the case settled, requiring the police department to put a comprehensive language access policy in place.
For court cases, Community Justice Project works in a group with Community Legal Services, Justice at Work and the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network that meets with staff from the Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Courts. That work produced a Language Rights poster telling people in multiple languages about their right to an interpreter, and it enforced language access requirements on Magisterial District Justice offices and courts in Reading, Hazleton, Scranton, Allentown and Juniata County after reports of non-compliance with Title VI in those areas. The statewide Unified Judicial System Language Access Plan was approved by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in March 2017, and a Monitoring and Enforcement Team works on putting it in place at the Magisterial District Justice, Common Pleas and appellate court levels.
If you are seeking legal aid and believe Community Justice Project could help with your legal matter, call the office nearest you in the state or fill out the form on the contact page at communityjusticeproject.org/contact. The Reading office is at 35 North 6th Street Mez 103, Reading, PA 19601, phone 610-370-7459. The form asks for your name, phone number, the Pennsylvania city and county of your legal matter and a description of the problem; Language Access is one of the specific matters you can choose.
Before you contact them, know that Philadelphia-area cases are not handled, and people in that area are directed to a legal aid organization in Philadelphia. The contact form also lists case types that are not handled, including divorce, family custody, estate, bankruptcy, foreclosure and criminal matters, and says questions about those issues will be rejected. The page does not say what office hours are kept or how long it takes to hear back, so ask when you make contact. For other options, PALawHELP.org, run by the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network, lists legal aid resources around the state.
Source: communityjusticeproject.org/what-we-do/language-access, read September 18, 2026.
The details
In Community Justice Project’s words
Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VI”), agencies that receive federal funding must provide language access, including interpretation and translation of vital documents, to individuals with limited English proficiency (“LEP”). Agencies that receive federal funding include most state and local agencies, such as subsidized housing providers, schools, police departments, courts, and hospitals. We represent LEP clients in enforcing their language access rights under Title VI.
Organization
Community Justice Project
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This listing summarizes publicly available information from communityjusticeproject.org/what-we-do/language-access. Last recorded review: September 18, 2026. Contact the provider to confirm eligibility, hours and availability before you go. If something here is wrong, tell us.