Transcript FRIENDS Template - AHMREI | Alabama Healthy Marriage

The Journey Towards
Cultural Competence
Julie Collins
FRIENDS NRC for CBCAP
February 4th, 2009
FRIENDS National Resource Center for Community Based Child Abuse Prevention
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A Service of the Children’s Bureau
What we will cover
• Why are we here?
• Overview of cultural competence and
setting the stage
• Agency Self Assessment Instrument
• So now what?
• Wrap Up
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Why are we here?
• Prisoner
• Partier
• Sponge
• Skeptic
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What is culture?
Definition
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What is culture?
• Thoughts
→ Received
• Models
→ Experienced
• Ideals
→ Shared
for everyday behavior
by a community of people
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Dimensions of Culture
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Education
Socio-economic level
Religion/Spirituality
Age
Gender
Place in sibling group
Language
Geography
Race
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Dimensions of Culture
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Sexual orientation
Era of birth or significant experience
Ethnicity
Physical ability
Family structure
Customs
Music
Dress
Food
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Easily observable elements
Fine arts
food
dance
music
literature clothing
status mobility tempo justice animals descent modesty beauty sin
subordination leadership cleanliness dependency disease eye contact
problem-solving insanity friendship time self competition cooperation
body language adolescence play leisure facial express logic validity
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handling emotions physical space etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.
Culture
CWLA Definition
Culture is a constantly changing, learning pattern of
customs, beliefs, values, and behaviors, which are
socially acquired and transmitted through symbols,
rituals, and events and which convey widely shared
meanings among its members. Culture includes
gender, age, sexual orientation, geographic location,
ethnicity, values, personality, ability status, marital
status, and job position (CWLA, n.d.).
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Cultural Competence
• What does it mean to be culturally
competent?
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Cultural Competence
CWLA Definition
Culture competence is defined as the ability of individuals and
systems to respond respectfully and effectively to people of all
cultures, classes, races, ethnic backgrounds, sexual
orientations, ability statuses, and faiths or religions, in a manner
that recognizes, affirms, and values the worth of individuals,
families, tribes, and communities, and protects and preserves
the dignity of each. Cultural competence is a continuous
process of learning about the differences of others and
integrating their unique strengths and perspectives into our lives
(CWLA, n.d.).
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Cultural Competence
• The approach most agencies use to address cultural
competence:
– Education: Learning about different cultures will
lead to increased cultural competency
– Racism: If you study and understand what racism
is and its impact on those discriminated against,
then racism decrease
– Oppression: If you study how the power of the
majority oppresses minorities you can then find
ways to rebalance power
– Personal prejudice: Individuals, who identify their
personal prejudices, and then find ways to
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decrease those prejudices, increase their
sensitivity to other cultures
Organizational Cultural Competence
Characteristics of a culturally competent agency:
• Customer-driven, understanding and responding to the needs of
the population they serve;
• Reflecting the population served in their staffing and their
physical environment;
• Valuing their employees and seeking to make them more active
in decisions that affect the people and community they serve;
• Valuing the voice of the people and community they serve and
having them involved in the program design, delivery and
evaluation and oversight;
• Designing programs, policies and procedures that are sensitive
and effective in meeting the needs of the population served in a
manner that is most beneficial and acceptable to that
population;
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Organizational Cultural Competence
Characteristics of a culturally competent agency (cont.):
• Balancing the needs of the organization, employees,
and populations served to achieve optimal results;
• Attract a larger applicant pool to fill vacancies,
because the organization is perceived to be a safe
place for those seeking a supportive work
environment;
• Is a more desirable candidate for funders, who are
increasingly including cultural competence as an
criteria in grant guidelines; and
• Is more likely to receive referrals from other
organizations that need to secure assistance for the
increasingly diverse populations that present for 14
services.
Organizational Cultural Competence
Challenges with integrating cultural
competence:
– Cultural competence is hard work
– No blueprint exists for cultural competence
– Requires ongoing commitments of money,
time and people
– Requires constant effort; there is always
room for improvement
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Organizational Cultural Competence
Challenges with integrating cultural
competence (cont.):
– Cultural competency goals may require revisions
to programs, policies, and procedures, or shifts in
organizational culture
– Cultural competence is costly, because staff
members need to go through awareness and
skills-based education
– Organizational size and hierarchical structure can
complicate the integration of cultural competence
principles
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Organizational Cultural Competence
• The challenge is not in creating diversity but
in maintaining an organizational culture that
will sustain a diverse workforce that actively
contributes.
• Assessment is a critical first step to managing
diversity in order to compete and succeed in
the marketplace. This assessment must be
done by staff from all areas and levels of the
agency, from top leadership to direct service
and line staff.
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Organizational Cultural Competence
• Organizations develop policies,
procedures and practices to more
effectively deliver services in a way that
respects children, youth and their
families and staff members’ individuality
and preserves their dignity.
Note: This meets standards such as the Council on Accreditation (COA)
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Agency Self Assessment
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Agency Self Assessment Instrument
• Section 1: Valuing Culture & Diversity,
completed by all agency personnel – 6
questions
• Section 2: Documents Checklist, completed
by the assessment committee – 5 questions
• Section 3: Governance, completed by Board
of Directors/Executive Board – 11 questions
• Section 4: Administration, completed by the
CEO, Directors and Agency Leadership – 11
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questions
Cultural Competence Agency Self Assessment
Instrument
• Section 5: Policy Development and Program,
completed by the Leadership and
Supervisors – 29 questions
• Section 6: Service Delivery, completed by the
Division/Section Supervisors & Service
Personnel – 20 questions
• Section 7: Children, Youth, and Families
Served, completed by the Service Population
– 14 questions
• Section 8: Interpreting Assessment Results 21
Cultural Competence Agency Self Assessment
Instrument
• What did the assessment indicate about the
overall response to the culturally diverse
children, families and communities served?
• What did the assessment indicate about the
way the agency manages organizational
issues related to cultural competency?
• What specific strengths did the agency
identify in completing the assessment?
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Cultural Competence Agency Self Assessment
Instrument
• What specific challenges did the agency
identify in completing the assessment?
• Were there any culture subjects or
issues that surfaced during the
assessment that were not addressed in
the questionnaire?
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Organizational Cultural Competence
Your agency has a culture……
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Organizational Cultural Competence
Agency Assessment of Cultural
Competence:
– How should we begin?
– What are the cultural competency strengths,
issues and needs of the agency?
– What is the best way to address the issues and
needs of the agency?
– Implement a cultural competency improvement
plan – at this point the agency may decide that
training is appropriate, or to change policies and
procedures, or to address issues of staff
recruitment, etc.
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Organizational Cultural Competence
Agency Assessment on Cultural
Competence (cont.):
• Organizational Assessment
– The agency would complete an
organizational questionnaire and gather
supporting documents, if available
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Organizational Cultural Competence
Agency Assessment on Cultural
Competence (cont.):
• Staff Input
– Develop a staff survey to be competed
anonymously
– Human Resources Department to
distribute survey with limited turn around
time
– Compile and summarize results
– Develop staff focus groups
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Organizational Cultural Competence
Agency Assessment on Cultural
Competence (cont.):
• Client Input
– Develop a current/former client survey to be
completed anonymously
– The agency distributes the survey in a way that
gets the best possible return
– Compile and summarize results
– Develop focus groups with current/former clients
to provide greater insight into how the agency
could operate in a more culturally competent
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manner
Organizational Cultural Competence
Agency Assessment on Cultural
Competence (cont.):
• Develop an agency cultural competency
improvement plan
– Cultural Competency Committee would review the
results from the surveys and focus groups and
make recommendations for appropriate
interventions to improve cultural competency
– Cultural Competency Committee would present
recommendations to Senior Management
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Organizational Cultural Competence
• Develop an agency cultural competency
improvement plan (con’t)
– Once approved, the Cultural Competency
Committee would begin development of an
action plan to address priority of needs and
issues
– Senior Management would approve action
plan and authorize implementation
• Implement the agency’s cultural
competency improvement plan
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Organizational Cultural Competence
• How does an agency evaluate itself?
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Is the goal to value diversity or manage diversity?
Is the goal to learn more about diversity?
Is the goal to become more efficient and effective?
Is the goal to create an environment that fosters
open discussion about differences and in which
differences are openly addressed in the decisionmaking process for children and families?
– How can the agency assess and measure the
cultural competency of policies, programs and
service delivery plans currently in use?
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Organizational Cultural Competence
• How does an agency evaluate itself
(cont.)?
– What type of ongoing staff education and
development are needed to improve
understanding of the importance of cultural
competence at the agency, for the populations
served, and in the work staff do every day?
– Are regulatory authorities’ and funders’ guidelines
or criteria placing expectations on issues of
cultural competence as part of their requirements?
– Is the agency aware of the needs of the
populations served? How does the agency know
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this?
Agency Finding
Most important questions:
#2 Evaluates all staff on their cultural competency,
among other skills?
#5. Utilizes the expertise of community leaders,
elders, and other resource persons in planning
programs and delivering services?
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Cultural Competence Agency Self Assessment
Instrument
Future Plans
– How does the agency plan to build on identified
cultural strengths?
– Will the agency develop a plan to address the
identified cultural challenges?
– How will you organize the work and monitor its
progress?
– What is the agency’s capacity with addressing
cultural competence challenges?
– Is there a need for outside consultation and/or
training?
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Work Plan Development
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Wrap Up
• Important to start somewhere
• Assess where you are at and build from
there
• No blueprint exists for cultural
competence – you create it as you go
• Remember requires constant effort;
there is always room for improvement
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Contact Information
• Julie Collins
CWLA’s Project Director for FRIENDS
[email protected]
(703) 412-2411
• Alicia Luckie
T/TA Coordinator for FRIENDS
[email protected]
(334)567-3291
• www.friendsnrc.org
FRIENDS National Resource Center for Community Based Child Abuse Prevention
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A Service of the Children’s Bureau