An Ambassador for One is an Ambassador for All The Necessity for Multicultural Competence Presented by: Kenzie Corbin and Molly Martindale, Lafayette College

So if that is what we DON’T want to do…. What DO we do??

Multicultural Competence- what is it?

Multicultural Competence Defined: Awareness Focus on students gaining awareness, skills, and knowledge in working with people from underrepresented groups, and minority racial and ethnic populations in particular (Pope, Reynolds & Mueller, 2004). Skills Knowledge

Component 1: Awareness Being aware of one’s internal biases, prejudices, and “isms” E.g., racism, heterosexism, classism, sexism

Component 2: Skills Successfully navigate relationships and communicate within a specific culture E.g., being able to talk within 6-12 inches of personal space vs. the 18-36 inches common in the U.S.

Component 3: Knowledge Specific pieces of information about a culture or a group’s historical timeline E.g., giving a “thumbs up” in some parts of the Middle East is curse word vs. suggesting approval in the U.S.

Lafayette College’s Solution Social Justice 101 Safe Zone Training Special Group Education We have a 3 step training process for our tour guides to get them first acclimated in the language, skills, and knowledge to strive for multicultural competence so that they can incorporate it in their behavior with prospective students and their families.

Special Group Education Social Justice 101 Safe Zone Training Special Group Education Stress that this is not “in house” training… connecting with other campus resources

Special Group Education Social Justice 101 Safe Zone Training Special Group Education 2 sessions designed specifically for tour guides 80% participation in one semester Goal: 100% by May 2018 1)Sexual Orientation & Gender 2)Allyship Training This training will include material related to identity development, common language, what it means to be an ally, and how to approach situations that the individual may encounter. 80% of active tour guides trained in one semester.

Special Group Education Social Justice 101 Safe Zone Training Special Group Education race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, first generation college students This is *internal* training Bringing in other tour guides who are good at special groups; bringing in non-committee people.the “best to develop it”.

Main takeaways/how to implement: Diversity is important, but it is just a term. Diversity with ACTION and UNDERSTANDING is multicultural competence Can lead to recruiting a more dynamic class of ambassadors Connect with your school’s social justice organizations or office of intercultural development Provide mandatory workshops/resources to new tour guides during training

Thank you!