Bridging the Language Gap: AGSC Launches New Committee

The Auto Glass Safety Council (AGSC) has inaugurated a Hispanic Outreach Committee to help bridge language barriers and provide Hispanic members with even more access to auto glass education and other services.

Gilbert Gutierrez, global education director for AGSC associate member Equalizer, is the committee’s first and interim chair.

“There are a lot of Hispanic people in the industry who don’t look for or take advantage of everything the industry offers because of a language barrier,” he says.

Gilbert Gutierrez (left) says that, when he first started working with Equalizer, he was one of the few Hispanic tool demonstrators in the industry.

Jorge Sandoval, the 2024 Auto Glass Technician Competition (AGTO) gold medalist and an AGSC qualified replacement technician, came up with the idea and pitched it to AGSC’s board.

“No one really talks about the language barrier, but I can tell by the number of Spanish-speaking technicians that approach me [and other Hispanic auto glass experts] with questions in Spanish that there’s an educational gap,” he says.

Sandoval experienced that gap first-hand in 2012 when trying to research an auto glass product.

“I couldn’t find any information about it in Spanish,” he says. “That’s when I knew there was an opportunity for improvement in the auto glass industry.”

“AGSC wants to enable good ideas, like Sandoval’s,” says Jacques Navant, president of AGSC. “Especially in an area typically neglected within the industry, like Hispanic outreach.”

Jorge Sandoval, the 2024 AGTO champion, helped come up with the idea for AGSC’s Hispanic Outreach Committee.

Gutierrez has been in the auto glass industry for over 30 years and has advocated for fellow Hispanic auto glass professionals throughout that time. At the beginning of his career, Gutierrez says he was one of the few Spanish-speaking people doing tool demonstrations, so he often found himself acting as a translator for other suppliers that many would’ve considered competitors. Gutierrez says he was just happy to help.

Hispanic representation has grown in the industry significantly since then, Gutierrez says, and he’s eager to help continue that growth with AGSC’s Hispanic Outreach Committee.

As with any other AGSC committee, this one’s goal is ultimately to forward auto glass safety. It’s easy to overlook critical safety steps when there’s a language barrier, according to Sandoval.

“The main objective is to provide people with the information that they need in the language that they understand so we can potentially save a life,” he says.