LPI equips public institutions to communicate effectively in multilingual societies. Grounded in language access, our work also engages the broader systems and conditions that shape whether communication is equitable, accessible, and trustworthy in practice. We develop evidence-based policies, standards, training, and technology governance models that help institutions design linguistically inclusive public services and strengthen participation, rights, and public trust.
Our mission is to advance language access, expand democratic and economic participation, and help ensure that all people can understand, be understood, and access the services they need. We pursue this mission at the intersection of multilingual governance, accessibility, equitable communication, and responsible language technology.
We pursue this mission by:
- developing research-driven policies, standards, and indicators for language access, multilingual communication, accessibility, and responsible language technology governance
- providing expert guidance, applied research, and technical assistance to help public institutions design linguistically inclusive, accessible, and equitable public services
- building the multidisciplinary workforce needed to lead language access, accessibility, and technology initiatives
- creating scalable frameworks, model policies, and implementation tools adaptable across different governance and legal contexts
- cultivating collaboration, research exchange, and practice-sharing across regions and sectors
Why LPI Exists
Public institutions are expected to serve increasingly multilingual communities, yet many still lack coherent, up-to-date frameworks for turning legal obligations and public commitments into operational practice. In too many settings, language access remains fragmented, under-resourced, or treated as secondary, even though it directly shapes whether people can access rights, services, and opportunities.
LPI exists because communication barriers continue to produce inequities across government, justice, healthcare, education, workforce systems, digital services, and other public-facing institutions. These barriers affect people who use non-dominant languages, heritage and minoritized languages, Indigenous languages, signed languages, and alternative communication methods. When institutions fail to communicate effectively, the consequences affect participation, trust, safety, and outcomes.
LPI exists because language access capacity is now central to effective governance. Public institutions cannot uphold rights, deliver services equitably, or engage communities meaningfully when language barriers persist. This makes language access far more than a matter of compliance. It is a matter of democratic participation, institutional effectiveness, and public legitimacy.
At the same time, language and communication technologies are evolving faster than the public safeguards needed to govern them. Machine translation, speech technologies, automated captioning, and multilingual AI tools are increasingly being adopted in public settings, often without clear standards for accuracy, data protection, accessibility, accountability, or equity. Public institutions need independent guidance to assess these tools responsibly and integrate them in ways that protect rights and build trust.
LPI was created to help meet this challenge. As an independent and nonpartisan institution, we provide the research, standards, guidance, and long-term continuity needed to strengthen language access and multilingual governance over time.