Demanding respect in all languages

Field representatives Silvia Barden and Mary Lou Aranguren (left to right) discussed the ethics issues raised bt the 2008 Postville, Iowa, immigration raid with Erik Camayd-Freixas, Ph.D., a federal interpreter and educator who worked during the incident's legal aftermath. Camayd was one of the speakers during the 2009 conference sponsored by the Guild's statewide interpreter unit, the California Federation of Interpreters. Story with podcasts featuring Camayd and other speakers.

California Federation of Interpreters

North/main: 433 Natoma St. Third Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103 (Map & Directions)
Phone: (415) 421-6833, Fax: (415) 421-3751

South/satellite: 12215 Telegraph Rd. Suite 210, Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670 (Map & Directions)
Phone: (562) 944-2341

Board of Directors and Staff

Questions or concerns? Contact the CFI leadership and staff.

Joint Governing Board

President – Curtis Draves
Vice President, North –
Vice President, South – Eliza Chávez-Fraga

Professional Division:

Director, South – Patricia Mawer
Director, North – Alejandra Siroka
Treasurer – Lourdes Tovar
Recording Secretary – Lucila Flores

Interpreter Unit Council Delegates:

Region 1 – Uri Yaval
Region 2 – Naomi Adelson
Region 3 – Ofelia Cuenca
Region 4 –

Union Staff

Staff Representative, Northern California – Carl Hall
Staff Representative, Northern California and Central Valley – Brandon Scovill
Staff Representative, Southern California – Silvia Barden

Interpreter Unit Delegates:

Region 1 – Roxana Cardenas
Region 4 – Gemma Yosick

Support Staff

Administrative Assistant – Eva Vargas

Committees

Standing Committees:

Nominations – Marta Selvi
Tellers – Eric Bishop
Newsletter – Naomi Adelson

Ad-hoc Committees:
Projects are always coming up, and CFI depends on an active membership to meet the needs of our growing profession. Contact us now to get involved!

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CFI’s mission is to bring together interpreters of all languages to speak with one voice: the voice of unity. Read the full mission statement.

CFI is a professional association and labor union advocating for the interests of the legal interpreting profession. CFI membership is open to certified and registered court interpreters working in the California trial courts as employees and independent contractors. If you are interested in joining, see the benefits of membership.

CFI engages in advocacy on a broad range of issues including professional best practices, training programs, and certification standards. Read about legislative issues or learn more about our activities and initiatives.

CFI’s professional division provides educational activities for professional interpreters, students, and the bench and bar. CFI’s annual conference and other seminars offer required continuing education credits and networking opportunities to professional and aspiring court interpreters.

CFI provides collective bargaining, representation and other advocacy services to union members as the exclusive representative of more than 800 interpreters employed in the state trial courts in four regional bargaining units. CFI is a unit of the Northern California Media Workers Union, Local 39521, and through this affiliation receives political, financial and legal support from the Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America, an international labor union with more than 750,000 members nationally. Read more about our union affiliation.

History

The California Federation of Interpreters, formerly known as “GLAC”, was created in 1982 by a group of interpreters working for the Federal and the Los Angeles Superior Courts. Many of these same interpreters were and are involved in the development and administration of the California and Federal court interpreter certification examinations. Shortly after its inception, GLAC affiliated with CCIA as one of its chapters. For a decade, GLAC successfully represented interpreters’ interests in the Los Angeles Superior Court with respect to compensation and grievances. As of January 1994 GLAC became an independent organization, free to pursue the goals and objectives of its membership, and later changed its name to the California Federation of Interpreters.

In the late 1990’s, CFI joined with the Bay Area Court Interpreters Association (BACI) in organizing statewide actions and advocacy that resulted in increased compensation for court interpreters statewide. CFI and BACI merged to form a statewide organization and affiliated with TNG-CWA, Local 39521 in order to pursue employment status, collective bargaining rights and full benefits for those interpreters interested in employment with the state courts.