MCDHH Mentorship Project, Charlotte “Dee” Spinkston, Sign Language Interpreter Mentorship Coordinator Charlotte “Dee” Spinkston, an African American woman wearing a gray colored headwrap. She has a small salt/pepper afro and is wearing a black long sleeve shirt, white and gray marbled scarf, and black circular earrings. She is standing in front of a light brown background. Hello! I’m Charlotte “Dee” Spinkston. And I’ve been hired by MCDHH as the Sign Language Interpreter Mentorship Coordinator. I am conducting outreach to identify diverse groups of people who want to participate in regional communities of practice to build their interpreting skills. The goal of the mentorship program is to identify and recruit ITP students and recent graduates and/or novice ASL spoken English and Deaf interpreters. Particularly, tri and multi-lingual interpreters, black and indigenous people of color who are interpreters, heritage signers, CODAs, rural interpreters, as well as others who are not well-represented in the field of ASL interpretation, such as cis men, trans, and non-binary folks. The mentorship project will develop a cohort of mentees and mentors in each region of the state who are seeking to become qualified to provide ASL interpretation and to pass the MCDHH Quality Assurance Screening, the NIC, and/or the BEI. If you are interested in participating in a regional cohort to increase your skills, to network, to get and provide peer support, and to prepare for the MCDHH screening or national certifications, or if you just have questions about how to become a Sign Language Interpreter or a Deaf Interpreter, please contact me at: Charlotte “Dee” Spinkston Sign Language Interpreter Mentorship Coordinator Charlotte.R.Spinkston@mass.gov MCDHHMentorship@mass.gov Thank you! I look forward to being in touch with you!