Cultural competence should be visibly interwoven throughout your intervention.
As noted by CADCA and the National Coalition Institute,36 members of your municipal grouping or coalition may come to the table with different levels of understanding regarding substance misuse and abuse and how to plan, implement, and evaluate interventions. Some may not be familiar with logic models or may not understand how a formal logic model may differ from their usual approaches. Ideally, you will not start working on a logic model until all coalition members understand and are comfortable with the process. Several training sessions may be needed to get everyone to the same baseline of understanding, thereby promoting fruitful discourse and consensus building.
Note: The cultural competence planning process may identify several areas of discord among members of your organization or coalition. This is actually a good opportunity to address these differences early on, thereby preventing the issues from resurfacing later and derailing your work.
To increase your group’s cultural competence, you’ll need to be open to modifying your planning and thinking processes to reflect the preferences of the target population(s).
Examples:
Some American Indian and Alaska Native communities prefer planning processes that are circular, such as using a Mind Map to brainstorm rather than a linear list or table.
Faith-based organizations may believe that action-oriented plans should be tempered by other forms of spiritual guidance about the best way to move forward.
Listening to and incorporating different viewpoints will help you develop a plan that is culturally competent and shows respect for participants’ values, and is therefore more likely to succeed.36
A plan to increase your group’s cultural competence should do the following:
- Include measurable goals and objectives with concrete timelines.
Example: Develop an outreach goal of contacting 30 different community organizations within six months, with the ultimate goal of recruiting 12 new partners.
- Ensure that you are involving representatives from all sectors of the community in your prevention efforts.
Example: If the aim of your logic model is to reduce the consumption of alcohol among 10th-graders, outline the steps your group will take to include young adults from diverse backgrounds as full participants in your efforts, rather than solely as the target of your activities.
- Indicate who is responsible for the proposed action steps, and outline some of the potential resources needed.
It’s important to review your cultural competence plan on a regular basis.