Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. President Unveils
Multi-lingual Web Site

(Washington, DC) Citing the need to connect worldwide with people who have similar interests and goals, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. (CBCF) launched its new, multilingual Web site today, featuring three of the world’s most prevalent languages among people of color. The CBCF Web site attracts more than a million and a half hits from 87 countries each month, making the site a significant tool for communicating with the international community.

“As the Foundation moves towards its objective of becoming a worldwide resource for peoples of color, it is important for us to make communication a seamless process. Having our Web site translated into the primary languages of the African Diaspora allows us to reach across barriers and connect on the issues that are important to all of us,” said Rep. William J. Jefferson, Chair of the CBCF.

CBCF President Weldon J. Rougeau made the Web site a major priority when he joined the organization in May of 2002. “It has been our goal for more than a year to transform the CBCF into a global organization that reaches people with whom we share a common bond, despite the fact that geography separates us. This is a tool that allows us to raise the profile of the CBCF, to transmit our messages of economic empowerment, educational excellence, and improved healthcare access to people who have mutual interests and concerns,” he said.

The CBCF reached out to scholars in the local community to take on the task of translating the site. In an effort headed by CBCF Webmaster Tshepo Edwin Makhubela, the organization was able to assemble its team, and make the transformation in a matter of months. Makhubela noted that being surrounded by a number of well-respected institutions of higher learning and some of the best minds in academia enabled the Foundation to complete the task of finding excellent translators.

The Foundation retained the services of Solange Viana Smith to perform the Portuguese translation. Smith received a Bachelors degree in Translation and English/Portuguese Literature from Catholic University of São Paulo – PUC, and a Masters degree in Education and Human Development from The George Washington University in Washington, DC. Smith is currently teaching Portuguese at Howard University in the Modern Languages Department.

The French translator, Mr. Mamadi Keita, teaches French in the Department of Modern Languages at Howard University. He received a Ph.D. degree in Economics from the University of Nancy (France), and is currently a candidate for another Ph. D. in French and francophone literatures at the University of Maryland at College Park.

The Spanish translator is Susana I. Martin, a consultant who provides free-lance English-Spanish translation and interpretation services in the Washington, DC area. She is an ATA accredited translator, who is a Certified Federal Court interpreter and works as a State Department Seminar Interpreter. From 1988 to1990 she provided services to the Embassy of the Republic of Argentina, here in Washington, DC

The CBCF will continue its efforts to connect with citizens around the world through its Web site, its programs like the International Fellows Program, and events like the Annual Legislative Conference that attracts people from many different countries.

The CBCF serves as a nonpartisan, policy-oriented catalyst to educate future leaders and promote collaboration among community and business leaders, minority-focused organizational leaders, and organized labor to effect positive and substantive change in the African American community.