Phoenix Language Services keeps interpreting with SBA’s technical assistance, pandemic programs
Founded in 1993, Phoenix Language Services (Phoenix) provides comprehensive language access services for their limited-English proficient and deaf and hard of hearing clients and patient populations, who prefer to communicate in a language other than English. Its clients represent an array of sectors, including the healthcare, legal, corporate, and social services industries, as well as the government. A core team of employees has sustained operations over the last 30 years, along with the deployment of a network of more than 150 onsite interpreters and more than 22,000 remote interpreters. Phoenix continues to expand its strategic alliances to enhance the breadth of its remote interpreting services, and to enhance their Interpreter Management System (IMS)® software, originally developed in 2012, to assist clients in managing language access services and provide real-time communication with interpreters.
The business is in its second generation of leadership under the direction of President/CEO J. Nicole Martin Lawton, Esq., MPH. Lawton is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, and a licensed attorney in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and state of New Jersey, with years of experience in health care law. Under Lawton’s direction, Phoenix, a minority- and woman-owned business, became SBA-certified as a WOSB in 2020 and WBENC-certified through the resources of her local Women’s Business Center, Women’s Business Enterprise Center East (WBEC-East).
Phoenix experienced substantial growth in revenue until the pandemic in March 2020. The pandemic significantly impacted the company as a considerable amount of its revenue resulted from the deployment of onsite interpreter services. Due to the pandemic, clients restricted use of onsite, language access services. Lawton and her team found the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and COVID EIDL pandemic programs to be invaluable over the past three years. They also received counseling from SBA’s Resource Partners SCORE, Temple University Small Business Development Center, and WBEC-East.
“It’s a privilege to recognize the achievements of second-generation, minority- and women-owned businesses and entrepreneurs such as J. Nicole Martin Lawton,” said Steve Dixel, SBA Eastern Pennsylvania Director. “We are proud our SBA pandemic programs helped sustain the business and the counseling offered by our SBA Resource Partners enabled the business to emerge stronger and profitable.”
“Nicole has utilized the resources and extensive support networks available through WBEC-East, the SBA, SCORE, and Temple University SBDC,” said Eliot Gilkeson, Program Coordinator, Women’s Business Enterprise Center East. “Through her engagement with these organizations, Nicole continues to foster the growth of Phoenix Language Services.”
“Phoenix’s mission from day one has been to help people who prefer to communicate in a language other than English to be able to do so, in whatever setting they are in,” said J. Nicole Martin Lawton, President/CEO, Phoenix Language Services. “We thank the SBA for helping us through the pandemic by supplementing the operational costs associated with providing our essential language access services. In addition, the ongoing counseling we receive from SBA’s resource partners is priceless.”
The Women’s Business Enterprise Center East (WBEC-East) is a Resource Partner of the SBA. WBEC-East offers a comprehensive menu to help businesses start with training, counseling, and networking programs and services, such as Entrepreneurial Training and a Business Finance Program. Funding for many of its Start-Up programs comes from their partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Women Business Ownership. Learn more about WBEC East at https://wbeceast.com/ and SBA’s Women’s Business Centers at https://www.sba.gov/local-assistance/resource-partners/womens-business-centers.