A Youth Leader's Guide to Building Cultural Competence 

Gaining cultural competence is a long term, developmental process that requires more than reading this 

resource, attending a workshop or being a member of one so called  minority  group. It is an exciting, 

engaging, lifelong process of expanding horizons, thinking critically about issues of power and oppression 

and acting appropriately. Culturally competent individuals have a mixture of beliefs/attitudes, knowledge 

and skills that help them establish trust and communicate with others.  

Beliefs/Attitudes 

The culturally competent individual is:  

aware of and sensitive to her/his own cultural heritage and respects and values different heritages;  

aware of her/his own values and biases and how they may affect perception of other cultures;  

comfortable with differences that exist between her/his culture and other cultures' values and 

beliefs; and  

sensitive to circumstances (personal biases, ethnic identity, political influence, etc.) that may 

require seeking assistance from a member of a different culture when interacting with another 

member of that culture.  

Knowledge  

The culturally competent individual must:  

have a good understanding of the power structure in society and how non dominant groups are 

treated;  

acquire specific knowledge and information about the particular group(s) she/he is working with; 

and  

be aware of institutional barriers that prevent members of disadvantaged groups from using 

organizational and societal resources.  

Skills  

The culturally competent individual can:  

generate a wide variety of verbal and nonverbal responses when dealing with difference;  

send and receive both verbal and nonverbal messages (body language) accurately and 

appropriately; and  

exercise intervene appropriately and advocate on behalf of people from different cultures.

4

General Description 

A general description of cultural competence includes:  

 The personal recognition and acceptance that all types of cultures have a profound influence on 

our lives;  

The personal awareness that oppression is pervasive in the United States, it is part of U.S. history 

and as much as we may want to escape that fact, it colors relationships;  

The acceptance that there are cultural 

differences and we need to learn to respect what 

A Word on Language 

we may not always understand;  

The terms African American, Latino/Latina, 

Having the humility to accept that we do not 

lesbian, gay and bisexual are used in this 

know everything about other cultures, never 

resource as they are the terms currently 

will [and] therefore we need to ascertain what it 

preferred by many members of these 

is we need to know about the specific groups 

groups. 

with whom we are working;  

A willingness to pursue that information in all