Found In Translation

What Found In Translation does

Found in Translation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2011 by Maria Vertkin and headquartered in Dorchester, Massachusetts (relocated from Cambridge in 2017). The organization's stated mission is to help homeless and low-income multilingual women achieve economic security by converting their language skills into professional credentials. Its core product is the Language Access Fellowship Program, a tuition-free medical interpreter certificate training program that operates twice yearly with cohorts of 35–40 women per class and includes wraparound services (on-site childcare, transportation assistance, mentoring, and career coaching). The training curriculum is delivered via an online learning platform that was launched in 2020 during COVID-19 and has since been offered both online and in person. As of recent reporting the program has trained nearly 400 interpreters across 38 languages — including Languages of Lesser Diffusion — and those alumnae collectively provide language access in approximately 76,000 healthcare encounters annually.

The business model is a hybrid of grant-funded workforce development and a social-purpose services arm. The primary revenue stream is multi-year foundation and corporate grants — including $400,000 over 10 years from the Cummings Foundation, $150,000 over 3 years from Tufts Medical Center, $50,000 over 2 years from the Boston Foundation, and $75,000 over 3 years from the Llewellyn Foundation — supplemented by tax-deductible individual donations (including a $100,000 relaunch campaign in 2024) and a secondary Interpreter Services line that places trained alumnae with healthcare providers. The organization has roughly 5–10 staff (down from approximately 10 in 2021 following March 2024 layoffs) and is led by Founder and Executive Director Maria Vertkin, who returned to the role in April 2024 after the departure of Divya Chaturvedi (ED May 2023–2024).

On the demand side, Found in Translation serves two interlocking customer segments. The primary beneficiaries are low-income and homeless bilingual women who face systemic barriers to employment; program graduates earn $25/hr or more as medical interpreters, with some nearly doubling their prior salary. The paying customers are Boston-area healthcare providers — Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Medical Center, Cambridge Health Alliance, Tufts Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, The Dimock Center, and Brockton Neighborhood Health Center, among others — that hire alumnae as staff or per diem interpreters. The organization also operates an annual Virtual Interpreter Job Fair in partnership with Cross-Cultural Communications and UMass Chan Medical School, and has expanded into advocacy for the interpreting profession as of 2024.

Name

Found In Translation

Legal name

Found in Translation

Website

https://found-in-translation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Found in Translation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2011 that trains low-income bilingual women as professional medical interpreters through a free fellowship with wraparound support, placing graduates with Boston-area healthcare providers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Workforce Development / Medical Interpreter Training Services

NAICS

Language Schools (611630), Translation and Interpretation Services (541930), Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Interpretation, Translation & Language Access Training (Community Interpreting) (EDAAADAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Interpretation & Translation Skills Training (Non-degree, Exam-Oriented) (EDANACAK), Language & Cross-Cultural Training (BPACANAL)

Keywords

• Medical interpreter training
• Workforce development programs
• Language access services
• Interpreter job placement
• Nonprofit health workforce

Headquarters

HQ city

Cambridge

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Foundation and Corporate Grants: Multi-year grants from foundations such as Cummings Foundation ($400,000 over 10 years), Tufts Medical Center ($150,000 over 3 years), Boston Foundation ($50,000 for 2 years), and Llewellyn Foundation ($75,000 over 3 years). Also one-time grants from $50,000 MAD$ grants from Cummings Foundation and anonymous donors.
2. Individual Donations: Tax-deductible donations from individuals, including a $100,000 relaunch campaign goal. Organization is a 501(c)(3) with Tax ID 45-3302596.
3. Interpreter Services Revenue: Connecting trained alumnae interpreters with healthcare providers and community organizations for language access services

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Found in Translation delivers a free Language Access Fellowship Program that trains low-income and homeless bilingual women to become certified medical interpreters, including tuition, on-site childcare, transportation assistance, mentoring, and career coaching. The organization pairs this training with Interpreter Services, a direct job placement function that connects graduates with Boston-area hospitals, community health centers, and legal services organizations needing qualified interpreters.

Product overview

Found in Translation is a nonprofit organization offering a portfolio of workforce development programs centered on medical interpreter training. The core offerings include the Language Access Fellowship Program (a free, comprehensive training with wraparound support services for low-income bilingual women), the Medical Interpreter Certificate Training (offered twice annually in-person or online), and Interpreter Services (job placement connecting graduates with healthcare providers). The organization also hosts an annual Virtual Interpreter Job Fair. All programs work together to address both economic disparities faced by multilingual women and linguistic disparities in healthcare access.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Language Access Fellowship Program A free, comprehensive workforce training program that certifies low-income and homeless bilingual women as professional medical interpreters. Includes tuition-free instruction, on-site childcare, transportation assistance, mentoring, and career coaching, delivered through twice-yearly cohorts both online and in-person in the Greater Boston area. Graduates earn medical interpreter certificates in 38 languages including Languages of Lesser Diffusion.
• Interpreter Services A job placement service operated by Found in Translation that connects trained alumnae interpreters with community partners in need of language services, including Boston-area hospitals, community health centers, and legal aid organizations. Functions as an internal placement channel linking certified graduates to 15-plus employer partners across the Greater Boston Area.
• Virtual Interpreter Job Fair An annual free virtual event that connects interpreters (program alumnae and broader interpreter community) with employers across the Boston area and beyond. Co-hosted with Cross-Cultural Communications and UMass Chan Medical School.

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly 400 interpreters trained, providing language access in approximately 76,000 healthcare encounters annually
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core, secondary and minor.

• Beth Israel Deaconess Medical CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKey community partner; Harvard-affiliated hospital and home of the first hospital interpreting department in the US. Provides job placement opportunities for graduates.
• Boston Medical CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKey community partner and major employer of graduates. One of the largest safety-net hospitals in New England.
• Cambridge Health AlliancecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHosted first classes in 2012. Employs alumnae as medical interpreters providing language access for over 350,000 encounters each year.
• Sharewood Project (Tufts Medical School)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVolunteer-run clinic through Tufts Medical School that partnered to launch Interpreter Services in 2013 for direct job placement of graduates.
• Cross-Cultural Communications (CCCS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOngoing collaboration partner; hosts interpreter job fairs together with Found in Translation and UMass Chan Medical School.
• UMass Chan Medical SchoolcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartners on interpreter job fairs and professional development. Bindiya Jha serves as medical interpreter training coordinator within Cross-Cultural Initiatives at UMass Chan.
• The Dimock CentersecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity health center partner providing services and potential employment for graduates.
• Greater Boston Legal ServicessecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerLegal services partner providing interpretation opportunities and referrals.
• Suffolk UniversityminorOthersAssists in recruiting volunteers for programming.
• Boston UniversityminorOthersAssists in recruiting volunteers for programming.
• WorkbarminorOthersProvides meeting space for programming.
• Boston RotaractminorOthersAssists in recruiting volunteers.
• YNPN BostonminorOthersAssists in recruiting volunteers.
• BU WheelockminorOthersAssists in recruiting volunteers.

Scale indicators15 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• Casa Myrna Vázquez: Boston-area nonprofit providing services for survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking, with strong immigrant-women programming. Comparable as a regional peer serving a similar low-income multilingual women client base in Greater Boston with wraparound support and economic-empowerment services.
• The Welcome Project: Somerville, MA-based nonprofit serving immigrants and refugees with ESOL, citizenship preparation, and community programs. Comparable as a regional peer delivering adult language and integration services to a similar immigrant population in the Greater Boston area.
• Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC): Greater Boston community organization serving Asian American and immigrant residents with youth, family, education, and workforce services. Comparable as a regional peer addressing economic mobility and language access for a similar multilingual immigrant community in the Boston metro.

Others

• InterpretAmerica: Interpreter advocacy and community organization focused on advancing the interpreting profession. Comparable as a thematically adjacent nonprofit working to elevate interpreting as a profession and supporting interpreter advocacy, intersecting with FIT's work but not directly delivering training or placement services.

Broad incumbents

• CyraCom: Major healthcare-focused interpretation and translation services provider, including phone, video, and onsite interpreters serving U.S. hospitals and health systems. Comparable because it absorbs a significant share of the same demand for qualified medical interpreters that FIT's job placement function serves.
• AMN Healthcare Language Services: Healthcare staffing giant that operates a large language services division (Stratus Video, etc.) supplying medical interpreters to hospitals nationwide. Comparable as a major destination employer for medical interpreters and a competitor for the same hospital interpreter-staffing contracts that FIT's network supports.
• LanguageLine Solutions: The largest U.S. provider of on-demand telephone, video, and in-person interpretation, including for healthcare systems. It operates a much broader interpretation service business across all language pairs and delivery modes and is the dominant incumbent in the medical interpreter market that FIT's graduates enter.

Emerging players

• International Rescue Committee (IRC): Large humanitarian nonprofit that runs workforce development, English-language, and job-placement programs for refugees and immigrants in the U.S. (e.g., in Boston). Comparable because it targets a similar beneficiary population (low-income multilingual immigrants) with workforce development services, though its scope is broader than medical interpreting.
• Upwardly Global: Nonprofit that helps skilled immigrants and refugees rebuild professional careers in the U.S. through training, mentoring, and employer connections. Comparable as a workforce-development model for multilingual immigrant job seekers, with a similar strength-based approach to leveraging language and professional assets.

Direct peers

• Cross-Cultural Communications (CCCS): Massachusetts-based medical and community interpreter training provider that co-hosts the annual Virtual Interpreter Job Fair with Found in Translation and UMass Chan. CCCS operates in the same interpreter-training and language-services space and directly partners with FIT on job placement, making it the closest direct peer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/found1nt
• Facebookfacebook.com/timeline
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/found-in-translation-inc-

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Found In Translation