Cohousing-L Mailing List: Diversity and Cultural Competence

[seaseal (seaseal]

Dear Cohousers and Potentials,

I love this *test* of diversity Ambrose McNibble proposes:

    "If =you= are not a little bit uncomfortable, =you= are not in a
     situation that includes diversity."

This important signpost has great significance for us both in  
cohousing and in other situations. I'm working with the Mental Health  
Service Act process in Santa Cruz County in California, and we  
struggle with this issue. When people "don't look like me" it is a  
signal for some cultural competence or else our service delivery  
stumbles and fails.

The *uncomfortable* test and the *look like me* test cover all those  
issues Sharon Villines brings up of socio-economic levels, ethnic and  
racial groups, education, religion, and so on.

Cultural competence is learning to accept the differences while  
valuing the diversity. It encompasses acting civil --and perhaps even  
friendly--around people who are *different* than you.

Who make you uncomfortable.

It is an area of learning where behaviors and so-called *built in*  
prejudices can be modified through education and practice. These  
areas of greater understanding and empathy are critical for a  
peaceful future, at local, national, and global levels.

I encourage all of us to take steps to become culturally competent  
with others who make us uncomfortable, because that is where  
community comes from.

Cecile
seaseal [at] got.net

You can never change things by fighting the existing reality.

To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model  
obsolete.

      Buckminister Fuller