Running head: SKILL DEVELOPMENT

Cultural Competency and Social Action Plan Catrina Ravenel Georgia State University

CULTURAL COMPETENCY ACTION PLAN

1) Ethics and Values: In the mid 90s, I worked at the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games where I first began to learn about culturally sensitivity issues. I learned the importance of not crossing my legs to the point that exposing the bottom of my shoe could cause a customer to be offended. Although it was a habit to simply cross my legs, I would not at the expense of offending a customer. As a social worker, I would establish a Did you know? communication board in the employees break- room. New messages would be posted each day on cultural awareness. 2) Self Awareness: In the past, in an effort to learn more about myself, my heritage, and my ancestors, I have visited other churches, museums and have extensively read historical books and documents all in an effort to learn more about myself. As a social worker, I will relentlessly pursue cultural competence by advocating for the state of Georgia to celebrate one ethnic group each month. A monthly celebration of cultural awareness by local government could create an atmosphere of understanding and consideration of diverse ethnic groups. 3. Cross Cultural Knowledge: With the help of my Cultural Competency class this fall semester, I have become more aware of and have an understanding for diverse ethnicities and cultures than I ever had before. I tirelessly attend class on group presentation days to learn about other cultures and I recently completed four cultural immersion assignments with appreciation and gratitude. As a social worker, I am encouraged to not only read about various cultures, but to travel to various destinations to broaden my knowledge and understanding. I am also encourage to stay abreast of various issues and challenges that impact people of diverse cultures. 4. Cross Cultural Skills: I intrinsically possess the tenacity to assist people from diverse cultural backgrounds. In the future, I look forward to receiving the necessary skills and applying the appropriate methodologies to properly assist clients from diverse ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. As a social worker, I will apply appropriate theories as it relates to my clients situation. I will advocate on behalf of my clients needs. I will provide my clients with a wealth of information and resources that they will be empowered to seek out new opportunities, services, and support for themselves and their families. 5. Service Delivery: Presently, I work with my own child diligently searching for state funds and resources to address his learning needs. When local funds are available but are not allocated for what my son requires, I have no problem contacting the appropriate department or department head who can intervene on my sons behalf to get the specific services he needs. As a social work practitioner, I would seek out and assess the quality of the intervention services. Then, I would coordinate appropriate referrals and service interventions based on accessibility, location, and my clients cultural orientation. 6. Empowerment and Advocacy:

CULTURAL COMPETENCY ACTION PLAN Years of frustration and professional incompetence provided the impetus that empowered me to advocate diligently on behalf of my son. Determined to find support and intervention services, I began contacting parent to parent organization for support. I volunteered with Atlanta Public Schools Parents as Partners Academic Center which provides support to parents with children with disabilities. Eventually, I began attending meetings held in various counties to learn about Medicaid waivers and NOW waivers. This information increased my knowledge of the nonprofit organizations that received funding for disability services. As a social worker, I would gather support from parents and address our concerns as a collective unit. Together, we would petition the state government and the Georgia Department of Education to redistribute resources for students with disabilities and improve services to increase the graduation rate for students with disabilities. The graduation rate for students with disabilities in Georgia is 43.3 percent (Betterhighschools.org, 2012).

7. Diverse Workforce: In working with the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, I learned to appreciate working with diverse groups of people, from different parts of the United States, and from various countries of origin. This rewarding experience provided me with a unique foundation on which to build my knowledge about the necessity of working in a culturally diverse setting. As a social worker and hiring supervisor, I would support hiring a culturally enriched and diverse group of professional staff members. My staff would be required to learn basic fundamental language skills of the clients we service. 8. Professional Education: As part of the education process to become a social worker, I am presently enrolled in a Cultural Competency class at Georgia State University. This class creates an atmosphere for me to experience and learn about people from diverse ethnicities. Moreover, this class cultivates a spirit in me to want to continue to learn about people, their struggles, challenges and victories. As a social work practitioner, I would advocate for cultural continuing education classes for all social workers actively employed in the field of social work. 9. Language Diversity: In the future, I will increase my level of comprehension in reading and speaking Spanish. I completed two years of Spanish in high school and will passionately build on my language competency skills. As a social work practitioner, I will increase my language skills which should help reduce the level of stress and frustration of clients until an interpreter arrives. 10. Cross-Cultural Leadership: In the future, I will challenge myself to remain informed of the challenges that impact my clients. The more knowledgeable I am about a groups cause, increases my level of competency to articulate information to other professionals. As a social work practitioner, I am challenged with the responsibility to empower diverse client groups. I stand ready to advocate and eloquently articulate verbally and in writing on behalf of my clients for fair and equitable treatment under the law.

CULTURAL COMPETENCY ACTION PLAN SKILL DEVELOPMENT

Mechanism of oppression: In order for the rich and powerful to maintain their economic wealth and remain in power, they systemically exploit people of all cultures and by any means necessary. The synergy of exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism and violence creates the conditions that oppressors enforce to keep people the masses oppressed (Lum, 2011). I would also include fear and propaganda as tactics used by oppressors to facilitate oppression. In order for me to continue to grow to help others, I realize that I must first be empowered with a wealth of knowledge and confidence. Knowledge and tenacity are the components that I need to first strengthen me. Identifying my purpose was the next element for me to grow and develop. I believe that my purpose on earth is to service, empower and enlighten those people that need help. My college courses serve the purpose of assisting me in identifying the appearance of oppression, discrimination, and exploitation no matter how subtle. So, I first must be empowered with the knowledge to detect oppression and discrimination. Advancing human rights requires a collective effort from the oppressed. People need to be lifted up, charged and motivated to fight back. People who feel hopeless or have given up do not have the strength to fight. Therefore, I want to work in a suicide crisis center to motivated people not to give up. I almost gave up once. Someone emotionally resuscitate life back into me. When I was confused and feeling weighed down, someone inspired me. I want to do that for others. Also, I have a son with a learning disability. There are resources available for children and adults. However, again when a person is focused on the day to day efforts, that person may not have the will or the tenacity to research and look for resources. So, the resources will continue to be unevenly distributed. The children are the ones who will be lost if someone does not intervene before it is too late. I want to be that resource to advocate for resources and support for other people children the same way I do for my son. For example, my son is already in positioned to receive employment, job training, residence, education until the age of 21. This is a program through the state that very few parents are knowledgeable about. Therefore, my son will not be a burden on me later on. If I can just assist and empower other parents to find and get resources that are available, then this alone will advance social and economic justice for the children and the parents.

CULTURAL COMPETENCY ACTION PLAN References

Better High Schools. (2012, March 6). Georgia works on raising graduation rates for students with disabilities. Retrieved from http://blog.betterhighschools.org/georgia-works-onraising-graduation-rates-for-students-with-disabilities Lum, Doman. (2011).Culturally competent practice: A framework for understanding diverse groups and justice issues. (pp 69-70). International: Brooks/Cole