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Policies
to Advance and Sustain Cultural and Linguistic Competence
“It
is extremely difficult to be a culturally competent provider
in an organization or system that does not support you
with policy, structures, and resources.”
Tawara
Goode, 2006
 The
National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC) has documented
that policy is the most underdeveloped area of the many cultural
competence efforts within health and mental health care systems.
The NCCC has identified organizational policy as key to supporting
culturally and linguistically competent practice.
Policy
is key because it:
- sets
the mission and vision of organizations,
- supports
the practitioners with resources to implement culturally
and linguistically competent practice,
- measures
the success of practitioners and the organization in terms
of how it serves diverse families,
- and
institutionalizes cultural and linguistic competence in
the organization.
The need
for culturally and linguistically competent health and mental
health systems has been strongly reaffirmed recently by the
highest levels of the U.S. government, the National Academy
of Science, independent commissions, and professional associations
and accreditation organizations. In fact, some organizations
are progressing along the continuum to develop these policies,
sometimes in partnership with the diverse communities they
serve. The Maternal and Child Health Bureau promulgated its
Strategic Plan for Fiscal years 2003-2007, which sets out
goals and key strategies, as well as performance measures
for all grantees to meet in cultural and linguistic competency.
The NCCC
has developed several policy briefs, guides, and checklists
which discuss the importance of policies, structures, procedures,
and practices to support cultural and linguistic competence.
For more
information, see:
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