(Radio Iowa) – More than 40 languages are spoken in Waterloo-Cedar Falls, ranging from Burmese to Bosnian, and from Spanish to Congolese French. Glen Keith, executive director of Love Incorporated, says the nonprofit faces an increasing challenge to provide housing and employment assistance to non-native English speakers as translators are in very short supply. “When you think about legal documents, people applying for different things, there’s an incredible need,” Keith says. “And then you think about all the nonprofits that are serving this community, we’re all in the same boat asking for help.”

Keith says it’s becoming harder to connect people with essential services due to the shortage of translators. “We have such a diverse community here in the Cedar Valley,” he says, “and oftentimes it bridges a lot of misunderstandings and cultural gaps, and being a volunteer-based organization, it’s always tough to find enough translators to talk with folks that are calling us for assistance.”

Love Incorporated has only 2 translators, one each for Spanish and French.