1. Welcome back to CASA Volunteer Training
Session 3

2. On the flipchart, write one thing you learned from this week’s online portion that you think you will use in your work as a CASA volunteer.
Activity 3.15

3. What is culture? What makes up culture? Activity 3.16
Culture is like an iceberg. As you know, much of an iceberg is under the waterline, never to be seen. Perhaps up to 90% is below the surface. Well, we think of culture in the same way, only 10% of what makes up a person’s culture is what we can see.
What are some of the things we can see about a person’s culture? Things that are tangible?
Food, clothing, language, crafts, music and dance.
These things we can see. Now what about the other 90%? These are things like… the way we introduce ourselves to someone else.
Activity 3.16

4. Here is a slide that we share with our volunteers when we give a presentation on culture.
Do you see some of the things that you were thinking of on here?
Concept of time- Anchorage- 2:00 is on time, A village 2:15, 2:20 is on time. In some other communities- 1:55 is on time.
Personal space- Italians
Facial expressions- Raised eyebrows in Yup’ik is an affirmative response or hello.
Concept of past and future- Differences in planning for retirement versus living for right now.
People of the same culture know these things intuitively and this is significant because as we work with others it both enables us understand and work effectively together. But when we don’t, it can also impede our ability to work effectively.
In Alaska we have …. Father Michael Oleksa is a well-known leader in Alaska on the topic of cross-cultural communication. He is a Russian Orthodox priest (originally from the East coast) who has lived in over a dozen Alaska Native villages. He trains many people each year- and is most known for offering cultural education to Alaskan teachers but he trains all sorts of professionals. He was a keynote at our 2009 Alaska CASA/GAL Statewide Conference.
Activity 3.16

5. Let’s solve a puzzle Activity 3.17
Please take a couple of minutes and work together to put the puzzle together to make a square.
Activity 3.17

6. Activity 3.17 Who got your square to look like this? OK….
Now we are going to add a piece and ask you to make a new square. Again, please raise your hand when you are done.
Activity 3.17

7. Activity 3.17 Who got their puzzle to look like this?
What happened when we gave you the culture card? Was it difficult to start over? Did different rules apply to the first square than the second? What worked before, didn’t necessarily work the same way the second time. You had to start all over again without any preconceived notions. You had to forget what you did before and think of it in a whole new way. This can be what it’s like working with children, youth, and families from different cultures – what worked well before, might work very differently know.
Father Oleksa teaches us that different cultures see the world differently. Different cultures STRUCTURE, UNDERSTAND, AND PLAY the game of life differently. These differences aren’t good versus bad, right versus wrong, just different.
We often assume that everyone understands and plays the game of life exactly as we play it and it can come as a shock to realize that they don’t and miscommunication results from the assumptions that we are playing the same game.
(draw back to introductions- Yup’ik culture- Who you Val’s family is and where she is from is important. Western culture- What your individual accomplishments are, is important.)
The small culture piece made a drastic change to the entire game…this is the power of culture. To effectively advocate for children, we must understand the rules of their game.
Activity 3.17

8. “Culture is the game of life as you understand and play it. ”
“Culture is the game of life as you understand and play it.” ~Father Michael Oleksa
Each culture group plays the game of life differently just as players in different sports use different skills and equipment, applying different rules to score points and win games. Some games are timed, some are not timed at all. For example, basketball, hockey, football - and all races – are won by the clock. But, baseball, golf, and tennis use the clock very little if at all. The rules surrounding time are different for each game.
We’d like to do an activity to illustrate this point.
Activity 3.18 Part 1

9. Defining Cultural Competence
Group Activity
Review the handout on cultural competence.
As you go through the handout, star the areas where you feel you demonstrate strong cultural competence and circle the areas where you feel you could use more work.
In pairs, discuss some of the areas you starred and circled.
Large group debrief
Handout the Definition of Cultural Competence Sheet:
Go through the above activity.
Come back to a large group for a debrief.
Is anyone willing to share about an area where they feel they have either a strong or an underdeveloped level of cultural competence?
Ask the group or the individual – how will this impact the advocacy?
Activity 3.18 Part 2

10. Culture is a learned pattern of customs, beliefs, and behaviors, socially acquired and socially transmitted through symbols and widely shared meanings. (NCASA 2002 Training Manual)
Customs
Beliefs
Behaviors
Culture can be defined as an organized group of learned responses and ready-made solutions to problems people face and how to live day to day.
There are many definitions of culture. For our purposes, we have chosen to adopt NCASA’s definition of culture from the 2002 curriculum which is….
It is important to mention culture is not bound by race and ethnicity. Groups of people who work in certain fields develop culture. Would you say there is a teacher culture? How about law enforcement culture? How about social worker culture? We want to be very clear that while culture can be closely related to race and ethnicity, they are about a group of people who play the game by the same rules.
Now that we’ve defined and explained culture, we can talk about what it means to be culturally competent: the goal for our programs and volunteers.
Activity 3.18

11. We’ve adapted the National Association of Social Worker’s definition of cultural competence for our program because we felt it really embodied what we we’re trying to accomplish. We want our programs and volunteers to not only respect and effectively work with people of other cultures, we also want them to value the worth of other cultures.
So, understanding culture is very important, as it makes you aware and more sensitive to differences. If our programs and volunteers can recognize, affirm and value each child, family, communities worth, then their advocacy will truly be in a child’s best interest
Core proficiencies of cultural competence:
They are divided in Knowledge, Skills, Awareness, Attitudes of what we have identified for what a culturally competent advocate looks like and is able to do: .
Cultural competence is the respectful and effective response by individuals and/or systems to people in a manner that recognizes, affirms, and values their worth (adapted from NASW).
Photo by Joe Joe Prince

12. Stereotyping vs. Cultural Competence
Cultural Competent Advocacy
Stereotyping vs. Cultural Competence
Page 3-15, Let’s take a each take a paragraph and read it aloud.
Can you think of an example in the media where you have seen a community or culture stereotyped?
Share an experience in which you stereotyped or misunderstood a person from another culture?...where someone stereotyped you or misunderstood you as a result of your culture/community?
Identify how stereotyping might affect your ability to be an effective advocate for a child…
(Hmong example – coining).
Activity 3.19

13. Disproportionality Activity 3.21
¹ Native is any mention of Alaska Native or American Indian.
² White is White only, excluding all other races.
³ Other includes any mention of Asian, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, or Black/African American.
When we look at Alaska child population, in the state 22% of the children are Alaska Native. For April 2014, the Office of Children’s Services (CPS in Alaska) reported that of the 2,106 children in out-of-home care, 1,319 were AN or AI, which means about 62 % of the children in care are Alaska Native.
AK Child Population- 22% Alaska Native
( Kids Count Alaska Data Book)
Out of Home Care- 62% Alaska Native
(OCS statistics published on webpage- May 2013)
As you can see, we have a problem with disproportionality.
Activity 3.21

14. Disproportionality
What do you think causes disproportionality in the child welfare system?
How might stereotyping cause disproportionality in the child welfare system?
How can culturally competent child advocacy help eliminate disproportionality in the system?
Activity 3.21

15. Action Plan Debrief Where are you at? Where are you going?
For activity 3.7 you were tasked with developing an action plan for increasing cultural competence.
Now that we have spent this time exploring cultural competence, stereotyping and values, let’s go back and think about our action plans.
Are you going to want to change or add anything in your action plans?
Cultural competence is a lifelong pursuit. We are always learning. We never arrive at a point where we know everything – impossible!
How do you get there?
How can we help?
Activity 3.22

16. ? Case Study Roles Runner- Retrieves documents from the facilitator
Scribe- Records the groups recommendations
Controller- Keeps the group on track and monitors time ?
Questioner- Asks certain questions and ensures each document is discussed before moving on
Activity 3.23 Part 1

17. Lavender Case
Debrief Questions
Activity 3.23 Part 2

18. Writing Effective Court Reports
Activity 3.24

19. Wrap up Complete Session 3 training evaluation
Confirm next session date and time
Complete session 3 online work
See you next week!