New Language Lobby: American Language Enterprise Advocacy

From http://www.politico.com/politicoinfluence/0613/politicoinfluence10987.html

Introducing the language lobby - Cowan launches new consulting firm - Trevor Thomas joins Giffords gun group
By BYRON TAU & ANNA PALMER
June 21, 2013

INTRODUCING THE LANGUAGE LOBBY: Two language industry groups have launched a new advocacy push with a lobbying component. The American Language Enterprise Advocacy is the brainchild of the Globalization and Localization Association and the National Council for Languages and International Studies. It’s not a separate new organization, the founders tell PI — just the advocacy face of the two groups, which together represent a broad coalition of educators, companies and other stakeholders. The new coalition will call for increased federal funding for language education, improvements in the immigration bill and federal language training appropriations, among other issues.

"What we're doing is really trying to get a unified voice for language in Washington, D.C.," said Bill Rivers, the executive director of NCLIS who will actually lobby for ALEA. Hans Fenstermacher, CEO of GALA, said it’s also about modernizing the image of the industry. "People tend to think of the language industry as a bunch of monks sitting in a corner," Fenstermacher said. "We're trying to modernize the view of the whole enterprise."