Making language inclusion a priority: A personal touch at the Alachua County Tax Collector’s Office
Submitted by Alachua County Tax Collector’s Office
BY JOE MILLER, Pocketalk’s General Manager of North America
In an ever-diverse world, understanding each individual’s distinct journey and heritage is paramount. This is where the innovation of Pocketalk shines.
Every day, the Tax Collector’s Office juggles tasks ranging from DMV services and licensing to property tax consultations. Each visitor comes with a story: An international student from China anxious about her first driver’s test, a Farsi-speaking resident trying to sort out his property taxes, or a Spanish-speaking family from Miami looking for license renewals.
Valerie Jerkins, an integral member of the Alachua County Tax Collector’s Office team, recalls her conversation with a colleague from Hillsborough Tax Collector’s Office at a conference. She shared, “Dale couldn’t stop talking about how Pocketalk had transformed their interactions. Our team had been struggling with Google Translate and this seemed like the answer.”
The results were undeniable. Post an initial trial, there was no looking back. “It felt like we were not just speaking the same language, but truly connecting,” said Jerkins.
That single device in the main office grew to 18 Pocketalk devices sprinkled throughout their organization, serving 100 employees.
Each device is more than just a piece of technology – it’s a bridge to understanding stories and needs. Whether it’s a nervous laugh during a driver’s test or a sigh of relief at the reception desk, the devices have turned interactions into conversations.
“Pocketalk is a fabulous resource. Our college town is made up of citizens from all over the world. Pocketalk allows us to effectively serve everyone regardless of their native language,” said John Power, Alachua County Tax Collector.
Alachua County joins a long list of government agencies using Pocketalk devices to ensure their services are accessible for all of their residents.
That is why the city was called Babel, because that is where the LORD confused the people with different languages. In this way he scattered them all over the world.
Genesis 11:9 ….history repeats.
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At least Donna gets it!
No one wants to hear your ghost stories.
Learn to speak English if you are going to live here. Want to live in AMERICA? Be and AMERICAN; speak ENGLISH!
I hope you never have to ask your grandchildren how to work a smartphone or how to change the password on your router.
With all the different nationalities Joe let cross our border we’re all going to need this.
imported voters you mean
Red? More like inbRed.
Why are our tax dollars being used to provide a service that has never been provided before the woke, Democrat politicians decided to baby everyone? If these people who supposedly need such services don’t have a friend or family member to help, how are they going to survive in the non government society where this service is not going to be provided??
Does the ‘Pocketalk’ device have an ebonics app too? After all, I want to be inclusive too.
Another empty hole for my tax dollars. If you want a drivers license, learn the language. How else are you going to communicate with a First Responder after you have wrecked your car?
Sheesh. I get the “Lone” part of your name.
Only $300 each.
But I gots to know: can it translate Creole sign language?
Yeah and does it speak braille? As Peter from Family Guy once said, “bump, bump, no bump, bump, three vertical bumps, four bumps in a square”
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