Where to Now Cultural Competency Guidelines, Assessments and Implementation

1
Where to Now? - Cultural Competency
Guidelines, Assessments and Implementation

• Sujata Warrier, PhD
• Phone [phone]
• E-mail
• sujata-warrier_at_att.net

2
Training Issues

• Training included definition of culture, cultural
  competency and work on cultural misinformation.
• Using the case example of Maria, advocates worked
  on practicing and applying skills.
• Homework was assigned on advocacy with other
  systems and developing culturally competent
  policies.

3
Reflections

• As a continuing process, the reflection tool
  builds on skills and ideas processed and learnt
  during the training.
• It is a short tool that should be completed by
  staff who attended the training along with
  members of the administration.

4
Reflections

• The reflection tool focuses on the following
  areas
• Leadership
• Organizing Principles
• Working Atmosphere
• Program Management and Operations
• Staff Diversity
• Outreach and Community Involvement and
  Collaboration

5
Guidelines and Assessments

• The reflection tool has been expanded and
  broadened in the guidelines and assessment tool.
• The completion of this tool will enhance the
  development of the policy and implementation
  plans.

6
Guidelines and Assessments

• This tool has the following areas
• Organizing Principles
• Staff Diversity
• Program Management and Operations
• Working Atmosphere
• Outreach and Community Collaboration
• Language Access

7
Guidelines and Assessments

• Within each of the areas, there are specific
  issues to be addressed by examining the
  following
• Current activities
• Gaps
• How did you identify the gap
• Strategies to address gaps
• Rationale for strategies

8
Guidelines and Assessments

• Each segment should be completed by a team of
  staff and administrators with the input and help
  of other staff and preferably past clients or
  current clients who can offer suggestions.
• Care and thought needs to be given and enough
  time allocated to completion of the grid.
• The grid should be used to develop the policy and
  the implementation plan.

9
Guidelines and Assessments

• Use specific strategies developed by the Ohio
  group carefully.
• These are only recommended strategies developed
  for a particular locale.
• Develop strategies to meet the needs of a
  specific groups within your service area.

10
Guidelines and Assessments

• Culturally competent policies should be able to
  cover all groups.
• Every year to eighteen months, programs should
  try to reach out to new unserved/underserved
  groups by careful and critical thinking and
  processes.
• Refine the cultural competency process as you
  learn more about yourself, your program and the
  women, children and men you serve.

11
Organization Cultural Competency Assessment

• A lengthy twenty page assessment follows that
  should be used bi-annually to determine status of
  cultural competency.
• It highlights creative processes as well as
  future challenges.
• It can be used to showcase the changes a program
  has made to systematically build cultural
  competency.

12
Organization Cultural Competency Assessment

• It has the same areas that were in the previous
  tools with specific questions in each of the
  areas to track progress.
• It is then followed by surveys completed by
  senior management as a team, other staff by
  teams, volunteers, and clients on the same
  specific areas.

13
Organization Cultural Competency Assessment

• Specific questions in each of the areas are rated
  on a 1 4 scale
• The agency is rated on an overall scale.
• Management and staff are to meet to work through
  discrepancies and controversies and figure out
  ways to resolve issues.

14
Organization Cultural Competency Assessment

• The final grid should be agreed on by both staff
  and management.
• Disagreements should be reflected in the
  assessments with strategies on how to accomplish
  the challenges.
• Finally all documents policies and procedures
  should be reviewed to show that the assessment
  and policies are reflective of each other.