The Korean American Federation of Los Angeles (KAFLA), led by President James Ahn, has been selected to serve on the Multilingual Access Advisory Committee (MAAC), a part of the California Employment Development Department (EDD)’s Language Access Office.
Currently, six organizations, including the Legal Aid Foundation LA, participate in the advisory committee, with KAFLA being the only Korean-American organization represented.
On September 3, KAFLA announced, “Through our efforts to assist with EDD-related issues, we became aware of MAAC and applied for a position. We were officially selected on August 29.”
KAFLA explained that one of the biggest challenges faced by the Korean community during the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in March 2020, was applying for unemployment benefits from the California EDD and resolving related issues.
“At that time, the EDD website did not offer Korean language support, and there was no Korean-language hotline, causing significant inconvenience and hardship for the Korean community,” KAFLA explained.
Thanks to KAFLA’s efforts, the organization became closely associated with EDD unemployment assistance, providing crucial support services to individuals applying for unemployment insurance (UI) and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) in the Korean community.
The MAAC advisory committee has a two-year term. When vacancies arise, candidates are selected through an open application process to fill the remainder of the term. KAFLA’s term on the advisory committee will run until January 2025, with the possibility of reappointment for additional two-year terms.
MAAC’s role is to provide expertise and experience to the EDD to assist individuals with language barriers, including those with hearing or vision impairments, to ensure they can fully access EDD’s services.
BY SUAH JANG, YOUNGNAM KIM [jang.suah@koreadaily.com]
