OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Nonprofit World Speaks Omaha offers community courses, interpretation and translation services. Folks can learn a language for free apart from paying $15 for a workbook.
To recognize all this great work, the Greater Omaha Chamber recognized Founder and Executive Director Leah Whitney Chavez as a change-maker.
It all stems from Whitney Chavez's passion for the Spanish language.
"Just always being around culture, and liking and being intrigued by the Spanish language. I always had a goal to learn it. So that started my inspiration of getting interested in other languages and cultures besides my own," Chavez said.
Her passion transformed into a dream.
"I had this vision for a language school but it was something I wrote down and just put away," Chavez said.
Chavez decided to take the business idea and turn it into classes.
"We have Spanish, Russian, Somali, Arabic, Karin, Burmese, the list goes on," Chavez said.
Community courses are virtual right now due to the pandemic. Classes last 10 weeks. The U.S. Census Bureau reports just 20% of Americans speak a language other than English, something Chavez hopes to change.
"You can't really learn a language well without learning the culture. So just being able to understand how someone besides yourself is going to expand your mind and expand your own empathy," Chavez said.
It's something needed now more than ever.
"I definitely want to have literally a house of language. It's where people can come learn language, they hang out with each other, learn about different cultures, so we're leaning towards growing that, growing our team of courses. In the future we really see being that number one partner for bridging language gaps in Omaha," Chavez said.
Chavez will get honored at the largest young professionals conference in the country in Omaha at the end of March.
Her organization also has a program called Justice Speaks where people of color discuss their lived experiences.
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