LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH

ARDI DIVISION – CULTURAL COMPETENCY UNIT

CULTURAL TRADITIONS & CONNECTIONS NEWSLETTER COLUMN

About our Cultural Traditions and Connections Column

This project is rooted in the Cultural Competency Committee's (CCC) "Share your Culture" activity, which
engaged community members, consumers, family members, peers, and staff in sharing about their cultural
background at the time in-person meetings were the norm. With the encroachment of the COVID-19
pandemic, the Cultural Competency Unit in collaboration with the CCC created the on-line Cultural
Traditions and Connections Column as a safe space to share, learn, celebrate, and connect our collective
cultural experiences. The Cultural Traditions and Connections column is featured in LACDMH’s monthly
“Connecting Our Communities Newsletter.”

Our Goal:
• To honor our personal and communal sense of culture through creative writing, photography, reflections
and more. By sharing about our own cultures, we promote cross-cultural learning, understanding,
sensitivity, appreciation, and healing for our collective soul.

• To sustain a virtual space in which everyone can discover, learn about, and nurture the richness of our
present experiences and ancestral teachings. Reading heartwarming articles and thought-provoking
reflections will expand our horizons, relax our weary minds, draw smilesacross our faces, enhance our
knowledge and deepen our compassion for different ways of living.

Join the Cultural Traditions and Connections Movement

• Do you have a cultural practice or tradition that has influenced you and you want toshare with
others?
• Do you enjoy writing short stories, anecdotes, poems, reflections?
• Do you have photographs you would like to share?
We would love to feature you in future newsletter issues!

Looking for inspiration?

Next page contains the August 2022 dates of remembrance from our Multicultural Calendar
 For additional information and to submit content for the column, pleasecontact the
Cultural Competency Unit at DMHCC@dmh.lacounty.gov

LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH

ANTI-RACISM, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION (ARDI) DIVISION CULTURAL COMPETENCY UNIT (CCU)

2022 DIVERSITY AND MULTICULTURAL CALENDAR

MONTH MONTH-LONG CULTURAL EVENT

OBSERVATION
August • Don’t be a Bully • August 3 – National Black Women’s Equal Pay Day (U.S.)
Month (U.S.) • August 6 – National Salvadoran Day
• National Black Gay • August 7-8 – Ashura (Islamic Holiday that occurs on the
Men's Wellness tenth day of Muharram)
Month • August 9 – International Day of the World’s Indigenous
• National Civility People (United Nations)
Month • August 11 – Raksha Bandhan (Hindu Holiday)
• August 12 – Hungry Ghost Festival (Chinese Holiday)
• National Wellness
• August 12 – International Youth Day (United Nations)
Month
• August 15 – National Liberation Day (Korea)
• August 17 – Marcus Garvey Day (Jamaican African)
• August 18-19 – Krishna Janmashtami (Hindu)
• August 19 – World Humanitarian Day
• August 21 – National Senior Citizens Day (U.S.)
• August 23 – International Day for the Remembrance of
• the Slave Trade and its Abolition
• August 26 – National Women’s Equality Day (U.S.)
• August 28 – 59th Anniversary March on Washington
(MLK - I Have A Dream Speech)
• August 29 – National Faith HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
• August 30 – National Grief Awareness Day
• August 31 – Ganesh Chaturthi (Hindu festival celebrating
Lord Ganesh)
• August 31 – International Overdose Awareness Day