Cafritz Award-winning MPD language access officer strives to ensure all are heard
Given his joyful nature, it’s hard to believe Imhotep Newsome routinely works 15-hour days between a full-time job and volunteer tasks.
Newsome’s job as the language access program manager for the Metropolitan Police Department is all about ensuring that “limited English individuals” have the same access to police services that native English speakers have. He’s tasked with making MPD more friendly for those who struggle with English.
Enacted in 2004, the DC Language Access Act “mandates the DC government to provide equal access and participation in public services” for District residents who have limited English capacity, according to the DC Office of Human Rights website. Each of the 39 DC government agencies that has “major public contact” is required under the legislation to have some sort of language access manager on its staff. Newsome is responsible for upholding the law’s requirements for MPD.
His creative and thorough approach to fulfilling those duties brought him recognition last month as one of five individual recipients of the 2019 Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Awards, which honor standout performance by DC government employees and come with a $7,500 prize.
In his role, Newsome tries to keep MPD’s sworn and civilian personnel on track for providing equal access for DC residents. On occasion, he’s led up to four training sessions in one day: “I was actually just doing a training for NSID,” he said in a recent interview, referring to the Narcotics and Special Investigations Division of MPD’s Investigative Services Bureau. While he works with MPD employees, he also reviews the department’s paperwork to ensure that consent forms, applications and other documents are accessible to everyone.
One of his biggest and proudest accomplishments is “bridging the gap” between law enforcement and DC communities with limited English proficiency. Newsome’s daily tasks, which he has performed since joining MPD in 2017, include coordinating outreach programs so that residents are aware of their rights as they pertain to government services.
Recently, he helped create fliers and videos in eight languages — English, Amharic, Arabic, French, Korean, Mandarin, Spanish and Vietnamese — to spread awareness that MPD officers are prohibited from asking about residency or immigration status. The department’s public information office spearheaded the project, but Newsome lined up bilingual officers to participate and arranged for a contractor to translate the catch phrase.
Without the authority that officers hold, Newsome says he relies on his natural talent for connecting with others, a skill honed while working as a pastor for 10 years before starting his job with MPD. “I naturally connect and gravitate toward people,” Newsome said. “It’s easy for me to build cross-collaborative teams.”
Born in London and raised in Nigeria before coming to New York, Newsome’s childhood left him with a worldly view. Educating others has always been a priority in Newsome’s life: He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in theology from Mississippi’s Jackson College of Ministries in 2005. He then moved to DC for additional undergraduate studies in classics and history at Howard University, graduating in 2009.
“I think religion became really important to me when I was about 18,” Newsome said. “I would love to do a Ph.D. in New Testament studies.”
Newsome’s fiancee, Tiffany Adams, said that his passion for encouraging others to follow their faith is one of the traits that drew her to Newsome. She said his work as an assistant pastor at his church, Restoration House International in Beltsville, Maryland, often intersects with his MPD duties.
“As an assistant pastor there’s a lot of responsibility and accountability,” Adams said. “I think a lot of that carries over into the workplace. Also being able to deal with diverse people, because when you’re at church you never know who will walk through the door.”
Serving as a language access program manager for a large department is more time-consuming than most people imagine. Newsome is often in the office from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays, on top of his pastoral duties volunteering with his church’s adult rehabilitation center, teaching Bible study, and serving as a Sunday pastor.
Working for MPD was a job that fell into Newsome’s lap. Alphonso Lee, director of the police department’s Equal Employment Opportunity Investigations Division, recognized the work ethic Newsome demonstrated as a communications specialist for the DC Housing Authority. Newsome was offered the MPD position after going through a competitive process, with Lee part of the selection committee.
Lee says he hasn’t been disappointed.
“He has gone above and beyond to serve demographics in the city that aren’t required by law,” said Lee. “He is incorporating sign language into programs.”
When Newsome first started in his DC Housing Authority post, he had a lot of work ahead of him. “We didn’t really have a [Language Access] policy,” he said. “I was responsible for actually writing a policy.”
That determination and success is what led Newsome to get a Cafritz Award this year. Newsome has made training modules for MPD employees more comprehensive while adding online content that is engaging and user-friendly. He also works to ensure that multi-language signs are placed in all areas of the District.
“He created an app for police officers to use to do translations to citizens in a quicker manner,” Lee said.
Even with all of his accomplishments, Newsome feels incredibly honored and humbled to receive the Cafritz Award. If anything, the recognition has only inspired him to do more.
“This award reminded me that you don’t really need a lot of resources to be effective,” Newsome said. He plans to continue expanding and improving the language access program, but also wants to improve his own skill set, acknowledging that he’d like to “go back and get language certification in Spanish.”
Newsome credits his director and the department’s staff with this award as well, for always encouraging and supporting him in his endeavors.
“I have to give this back to the team that didn’t have to build a relationship with me, but took a leap of faith,” he said.
For now, Newsome is busy planning his upcoming nuptials. Both he and his fiancee discussed how they inspire one another. For her part, Adams foresees a bright future with her successful fiancee.
“When you meet him, you will remember him,” Adams said. “He has powerful words of encouragement, and that’s one of the reasons I love him.”
This post has been updated to correct references to when Newsome joined the Metropolitan Police Department and the status of the program prior to his arrival, and to clarify that he was working for the DC Housing Authority when he wrote a Language Access policy. The article also now includes information on MPD’s creation of new fliers and videos in eight languages.
This is the first installment of The DC Line’s spotlight series on this year’s Cafritz Award winners. You can also learn about last year’s honorees in our 2018 profiles.
Comments are closed.