Part 3 of Charting New Paths: Understanding and Support for Migrant and Undocumented Youth, May 2024
Charting New Paths: Culturally Competent vs. Culturally Humble
In this module we consider how cultural competence might unintentionally limit our ability to build meaningful relationships — although there are great tools that can be adapted into meaningful opportunities. Our focus, however, is to challenge ourselves to approach youth and young adults from a position of humility.
A process that preserves dignity
Cultural humility is a process by which individuals and systems respond respectfully and effectively to people of all cultures, languages, classes, races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, spiritual traditions, immigration status, and other diversity factors in a manner that recognizes, affirms, and values the worth of individuals, families, and communities and protects and preserves the dignity of each. Dig deeper with this piece from the National Association of Social Workers.
What's the difference?
Cultural humility means admitting that one does not know and is willing to learn about and from the experiences of others, while being aware of one's own culture(s). While competence suggests mastery, humility refers to an intrapersonal and interpersonal approach that cultivates person-centered care. Read about shifting to cultural humility in this piece published by NIH.
Acknowledging what we don't know
When building a solid relationship with others, we must acknowledge “we don't know what we don't know.” This is where we evolve past the notion of competence into humility. We ask ourselves, what does it mean to be competent in someone else's culture vs. to be humble about someone else's culture? We challenge you to move away from working towards "competency" and move towards humility.
Explore
We encourage you to block in 15 minutes to dive into at least one of the following resources to supporting a culturally humble practice. How can you integrate your learning into the way you show up for youth with experiences of migration in your program?
- This 2 minute video from Oregon State University links to case studies showing how different initiatives have approached their work with cultural humility.
- Consider MENTOR's strategies for practicing cultural humility in the context of youth mentoring. Non-mentoring programs may easily adapt these strategies.
- Explore this toolkit, which includes cultural humility basics, strategies for the workplace, training, and other activities.
This toolkit was released as a newsletter series in May 2024. Learn more about new training and funding opportunities, news and policy updates, and how we can collectively strengthen outcomes for youth and young adults. Sign up for our newsletter to get this series and more delivered straight to your inbox.