Cultural and Linguistic Competence Plan

The goal of having a Cultural and Linguistic Competence Plan is to ensure that all of the services and strategies are designed and implemented within the cultural and linguistic context of the children and youth experiencing severe emotional/behavioral challenges in the Rural Children’s Initiative service area.  This is not limited to the children and youth but also their families and their pre-existing and new systems of support.  A major aspect of this document is accountability by all stake holders within the Rural Children’s Initiative service area.  This document operates under the premise that a few employees of an organization exercising cultural and linguistic competence do not make an organization culturally and linguistically competent.  Cultural and linguistic competence is thus reflected in (but not limited to) the organization’s Mission and vision statements, their policy and procedures guidelines, their job descriptions, the population being served reflected in the composition of their staff at all levels, etc. 

This document is divided in six domains related to cultural and linguistic competence.  They are:

1. Policy and Governance
2. Administration and Management Level
3. Services and Supports at the practitioner level
4. Youth and Family Level
5. Workforce Development
6. Collaboration

The format utilized in this Cultural and Linguistic Competence Plan is such that specific tasks and activities from the six domains are provided for all levels of accountability within the Rural Children’s Initiative service area.  This ensures that we engage in a collaborative approach and highlights the importance of working within a multi-disciplinary team framework.  Everyone in the Rural Children’s Initiative service area is responsible for infusing cultural and linguistic competence in their strategic planning, service programming, workforce development and service delivery at all levels.   

Cultural and Linguistic Competence is a developmental process.  This Cultural and Linguistic Competence Plan should address all of the needs of our System of Care.  It is intended to provide a template of actionable steps at multiple levels of staffing that can move us along in the Cultural and Linguistic Competence continuum.  The following terms are defined in order to help the reader understand concepts and terminology used in the body of the plan.

• Participant organizations: Provides the names of stakeholders and/or stakeholder groups responsible for developing, implementing and evaluating the CLC plan;
• Purpose: Desired results or impact.
• Strategies/Activities: This column explicitly states the measurable and time-sensitive tasks to be completed by the responsible members of the system of care community at each level of accountability.
• Person(s) Responsible: This area is used to indicate the specific individuals, teams, agencies and/or systems responsible for completing the task.
• Time Frame:  Indicates the measurable time a task is to be started and completed
• Outcomes: This section provides observable indicators of progress in reaching or measuring the goal. For instance, an outcome related to the provision of training on cultural and linguistic competence might be: 100% of system of care staff has received mandated CLC training by January, or within 6 months of hiring.