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Information Status

We are currently revising content on plainlanguage.gov, including the federal guidelines, training materials, and other online resources. We’ve temporarily paused accepting training requests until after this update is complete. We hope to resume training later in the fall 2023.

About

The Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN) is an unfunded working group of federal employees from different agencies and specialties who support the use of clear communication in government writing. Originally called the Plain English Network, PLAIN has been meeting informally since the mid 1990s.

Our goal is to promote the use of plain language for all government communications. We believe that using plain language will save federal agencies time and money and provide better service to the American public.

To promote plain language, we:

We meet monthly to discuss plain language issues. Our meetings are open to all federal employees. Subscribe to our mailing list to learn about upcoming events.

Please contact us if you have questions about how to promote plain language within your agency.

We can only accept volunteer help from federal government employees. We are unable to approve membership requests from or accept assistance from international governments.

Our officers

Katina Rae Stapleton

Co-chair

Education Research Analyst, Institute of Education Sciences
U.S. Department of Education

Katherine Spivey

Co-chair

Web Content/Social Media Manager, Plain Language Launcher
General Services Administration

Miriam Vincent

Web manager

Staff Attorney, Office of the Federal Register
National Archives and Records Administration

Jamie Stark

Training coordinator

Chief, Engagements Branch U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

About the site

This site launched in 1994, and was redesigned in 2004 with volunteers from PLAIN and student work facilitated by Thom Haller.

In 2017, we partnered with 18F to redesign the site and make it more accessible in modern browsers. plainlanguage.gov is built with the U.S. Web Design Standards and is hosted on Federalist by the General Services Administration.

We are continuing to improve the site and welcome your feedback.