Designing & Implementing Culturally and Linguistically Competent Policies Ready At Five School Readiness Symposium April 18, 2005

Cultural Competence Is a congruent set of behaviors, attitudes, policies, structures, and practices that come together in a system, agency or among professionals and enable that system and agency or those professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural situations. (Modified from Cross, Bazron, Dennis and Isaacs, 1989) behaviors attitudes policies structures practices Slide Source: The National Center for Cultural Competence, 2005

Guiding Values & Principles of Cultural Competence Organizational Systems and organizations must sanction, and in some cases mandate, the incorporation of cultural knowledge into policy making, infrastructure, and practice.* Cultural competence embraces the principles of equal access and non-discriminatory practices in service delivery.* Slide Source: The National Center for Cultural Competence, 2005

Cultural competence is achieved by identifying and understanding the needs and help-seeking behaviors of individuals and families.* Culturally competent organizations design and implement services that are tailored or matched to the unique needs of individuals, children, families, organizations, and communities served.* Guiding Values & Principles Slide Source: National Center for Cultural Competence, 2005

Culturally competent practice is driven by family-preferred choices, not by culturally blind or culturally free interventions.* Guiding Values & Principles Slide Source: National Center for Cultural Competence, 2005

Guiding Values & Principles of Cultural Competence Community Engagement Cultural competence involves working in conjunction with natural, informal support and helping networks within culturally diverse communities (e.g., neighborhood, civic, and advocacy associations; local/neighborhood merchants and alliance groups; ethnic, social, and religious organizations; and spiritual leaders and healers).* Slide Source: The National Center for Cultural Competence, 2005

Pertinent Policy Areas  Vision  Mission  Budget  Staffing  Staff Development/Training  Communication  Translation/Interpretation  Family/Professional Partnerships  Community Collaboration  Programmatic Issues  Special needs populations Slide Source: National Center for Cultural Competence, 2005