WK1 Cultural Competency Discussion Objective 1: Identify cultural competence and its growth patterns in America.

It is well known that America is a culturally diverse nation. In fact, today, more than one-third of our nation’s population is comprised of people from other ethnicities and other cultural groups (that’s over 11%). Back in 1990, our cultural population count was only about one-quarter of the entire population. Clearly, this trend in our country reflects how our nation was founded. People came from far and wide to experience life in America. This is still happening!

Having such a diverse population presents some issues when we think about the delivery of human services. In this discussion, we will reflect upon how to treat such diversity.

• Read Preparing a Program To Treat Diverse Clients
• Prepare to share in discussion the following points:
  • Give a scholarly definition of cultural competence, adding your own thoughts to it.
  • Summarize, according to the article, why human service workers need to be culturally competent. Add your own thoughts to this.
  • What elements do you think should be included in staff trainings to help them become more culturally sensitive and competent?