Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 17 October 2002 — Page 10

The Muncie Times, October 17, 2002, page 10

SOCIAL SECURITY

The face of America is changing. Minorities are now the majority in some areas. According to the 2000 census, Indiana’s Hispanic population increased by 117 percent and its Asian community grew by 57 percent in the 1990’s. People are moving to the United States from countries that many of us do not even recognize. The Social Security Administration (SSA) has been a leader in providing services to new

Americans. According to a Social Security Administration official in Muncie, “We recently received the E-Gov 2002 Explorer Award for our Multi-Language Gateway Internet site. The site, www.ssa.gov/multilangua ge, provides valuable Social Security information online in 15 different languages. “SSA wants all Americans to have access to its services and we are pleased to be recognized for our efforts in communicating with

people in their preferred language.” SSA’s MultiLanguage Gateway is a way of helping many people have access to accurate information about Social Security retirement, survivors and disability benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits in their preferred language. This site explainseach of the benefit programs, the requirements to qualify for benefits and how to

apply. Each language includes an explanation of SSA’s policy to supply an interpreter, upon request, free of charge to people who do not speak English. Information about Social Security is available in the following languages: Arabic Armenian Chinese Farsi French Greek Haitian-Creole

Italian Korean Polish Portugese Russian Spanish Tagaiog Vietnamese

Last year, about 2.4 million people, 10 percent of the people doing business with SSA preferred to deal with the agency in a language other than English, Warner said.

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