by Philip Monte Verde
This post is the beginning of a five part series on cultural responsiveness in action. For an introduction to cultural responsiveness, click here. These posts are intended to be 'strategies' we can use, but more importantly point to an improved way of thinking. While written for social workers through the lens of refugee work, the lessons, it is hoped, are appropriate for all sorts of professionals.
To access the complete series, click here.
Collaboration
The beauty of cultural responsiveness is that it is not one directional. It is not those with power dictating what the marginalized should do, nor is it the reverse blindly true. Rather it is a synthesis of the strengths of people on both sides of the bridge.
Cultural responsiveness is a critical review of many aspects in society that adds in the knowledge of those historically not listened to, and blends it with the knowledge of those with strong existing voices.
It has been noted already how culturally responsive social workers engage with less-heard, marginalized groups, but this is only half. In the author’s experience, engagement with other groups and organizations fills in the missing half. In my city (Rochester, New York) there are no lack of groups and organizations doing work with stated or implied goals of assisting people in poverty, including refugees.
These include government run organizations (like neighborhood service centers, economic development agencies, community development agencies etc.), religious organizations, refugee specific groups, schools, health care agencies, legal assistance groups, and university run programs. These groups and organizations have done a significant amount of good.
But of course agencies can always do more. There are a number of barriers to agency success, such as limited time, resources, or local knowledge, but the author has seen how they can often be overcome with collaboration. There are at least three different approaches a social worker can take to issues around collaboration or sharing of knowledge. In addition, these approaches can be seen as blueprints for promoting cultural responsiveness more generally.
First, if a worker is in an agency that is resistant to collaboration or is just swamped in ‘cases’, they can advocate with their superiors for change. This might often lead to a degree of resistance, or outright refusal, from higher management. But the selling point is that in the long term, collaboration can lead not only to a reduced workload for the agency, but to a better quality of life in the people they serve.
Next, there are other agencies in the city or area one is working in. They may resist overtures for busyness or political reasons, but if there is one thing social workers are adept at more than other professionals it is working with resistance.
Here the community-building minded social worker can imitate a river passing through the resistance of layers of rock: Water tries many different routes through the stubborn mineral and eventually finds the smallest fraction of an opening. Through persistence that opening widens into a channel and you are through.
If contact cannot be made in other agencies with the leaders at the top, perhaps it can be made elsewhere. For example, fellow social workers at other agencies can be engaged with and encouraged to follow their own social justice instincts on their side.
Finally, there is collaboration and information sharing with agencies in other cities. We are blessed in this information age to have access to stories of success from around the country and the world. Take a specific issue as an example: through engagement, resettled refugees have mentioned that not being able to afford driving lessons leads to them not being able to pass driving tests. This of course means they cannot drive cars and are reliant on public transportation to get to job interviews or work.
A solution is to contact refugee focused agencies in other cities to see how they have overcome this issue. Do they teach refugees to drive directly, and if so how do they overcome liability issues? Have they gotten local driving schools to donate class time to the cause? The people who work at these agencies in other cities have years of accumulated knowledge, and presumably an interest in social justice broadly.
Distance overcomes the struggle of local agency competition, and contacting numerous agencies is equivalent to water pushing through many crevices of the rock to find its opening.
This post is the beginning of a five part series on cultural responsiveness in action. For an introduction to cultural responsiveness, click here. These posts are intended to be 'strategies' we can use, but more importantly point to an improved way of thinking. While written for social workers through the lens of refugee work, the lessons, it is hoped, are appropriate for all sorts of professionals.
To access the complete series, click here.
Collaboration
The beauty of cultural responsiveness is that it is not one directional. It is not those with power dictating what the marginalized should do, nor is it the reverse blindly true. Rather it is a synthesis of the strengths of people on both sides of the bridge.
Cultural responsiveness is a critical review of many aspects in society that adds in the knowledge of those historically not listened to, and blends it with the knowledge of those with strong existing voices.
It has been noted already how culturally responsive social workers engage with less-heard, marginalized groups, but this is only half. In the author’s experience, engagement with other groups and organizations fills in the missing half. In my city (Rochester, New York) there are no lack of groups and organizations doing work with stated or implied goals of assisting people in poverty, including refugees.
These include government run organizations (like neighborhood service centers, economic development agencies, community development agencies etc.), religious organizations, refugee specific groups, schools, health care agencies, legal assistance groups, and university run programs. These groups and organizations have done a significant amount of good.
But of course agencies can always do more. There are a number of barriers to agency success, such as limited time, resources, or local knowledge, but the author has seen how they can often be overcome with collaboration. There are at least three different approaches a social worker can take to issues around collaboration or sharing of knowledge. In addition, these approaches can be seen as blueprints for promoting cultural responsiveness more generally.
First, if a worker is in an agency that is resistant to collaboration or is just swamped in ‘cases’, they can advocate with their superiors for change. This might often lead to a degree of resistance, or outright refusal, from higher management. But the selling point is that in the long term, collaboration can lead not only to a reduced workload for the agency, but to a better quality of life in the people they serve.
Next, there are other agencies in the city or area one is working in. They may resist overtures for busyness or political reasons, but if there is one thing social workers are adept at more than other professionals it is working with resistance.
Here the community-building minded social worker can imitate a river passing through the resistance of layers of rock: Water tries many different routes through the stubborn mineral and eventually finds the smallest fraction of an opening. Through persistence that opening widens into a channel and you are through.
If contact cannot be made in other agencies with the leaders at the top, perhaps it can be made elsewhere. For example, fellow social workers at other agencies can be engaged with and encouraged to follow their own social justice instincts on their side.
Finally, there is collaboration and information sharing with agencies in other cities. We are blessed in this information age to have access to stories of success from around the country and the world. Take a specific issue as an example: through engagement, resettled refugees have mentioned that not being able to afford driving lessons leads to them not being able to pass driving tests. This of course means they cannot drive cars and are reliant on public transportation to get to job interviews or work.
A solution is to contact refugee focused agencies in other cities to see how they have overcome this issue. Do they teach refugees to drive directly, and if so how do they overcome liability issues? Have they gotten local driving schools to donate class time to the cause? The people who work at these agencies in other cities have years of accumulated knowledge, and presumably an interest in social justice broadly.
Distance overcomes the struggle of local agency competition, and contacting numerous agencies is equivalent to water pushing through many crevices of the rock to find its opening.
