Participants say Mountain View civic academy boosts engagement and language access

Residents who took part in a local civic academy said the program helped them understand city departments, connect with other participants and feel more able to volunteer or raise issues at the municipal level.

A participant identified in the transcript as Speaker 1 said, “Growing up in Mountain View, I think this is what I was missing,” describing a lack of instruction about city‑level government in high school and welcoming the academy as a corrective. The same participant later recounted that the program helped their mother become more involved in school and community activities.

Another attendee, identified as Speaker 2, said they have lived in the community for 24 years and that attending the program — referred to in the transcript as the "Chinese Academy" — gave them “a better view of what is going on” and permission to ask questions of local government staff. Speaker 3 described a sustained peer network from the academy, saying “there were about 30 of us” in their cohort who remained engaged after the program.

Language access was a central theme. Speaker 4 said, “A lot of the times, folks that are non English speakers are the ones that are most heavily impacted by, you know, injustice ... and yet they're not the ones in the rooms that are letting the decision makers ... know what's really going on,” and urged offering the program in Spanish and other languages that reflect Mountain View’s community fabric.

The transcript records participants’ personal testimony and perspectives but does not show any formal motions, votes, or staff commitments tied to the session. The discussion in the available transcript is limited to participants’ experiences and calls for broader language access and outreach. No dates, formal adoption of policy, budget allocations, or next procedural steps are specified in the transcript.