By Leticia Diaz, Sr. Staff Associate for Peace, International, and Equity Affairs, National NASW

The NASW Standards for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice were approved in June 2001. The timing was perfect. News that NASW was working on cultural competence standards had generated a great deal of interest from a broad range of organizations.

Cultural competence as a substantive area was also being addressed by some universities while social services agencies were coming to grips with changing client populations and their need for culturally competent workforce to service those populations. U.S. government supported initiatives also produced a wealth of materials applicable to the issues and that helped to shape the dialogue that was taking place among partners and collaborating institutions.

The standards were deemed to be a priority by the NASW National Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity (NCORED) and through a collaborative effort between leadership and staff the standards were produced in record time.

Social workers and other professionals offered encouragement, support, and ongoing feedback. Graduate social work students provided critical analyses of the initial draft. The level of interest in our work from so many people helped us realized that NASW's voice was being added to this arena at a critical time. We became aware that NASW was working on "something of great value" for the social work profession and the social service area at the precise time that there was a high felt need for attention to the subject.

NASW management and staff have served as trainers in workshops. We have learned a great deal about the standards, their broad-base applicability, and their acceptance as a valuable tool for the profession. We caution that cultural competence is learned and it takes effort and dedication. A national Latino Panel posited among other things that, "cultural competence results from a specialized practice development and not from having been born in, or having spent significant amounts of time in, a culture, or general practitioners using an interpreter, regardless of the interpreter's linguistic expertise;" We hasten to add that cultural competence is also greater than sensitivity to race and ethnicity. Cultural competence is an essential element for effective practice.

Workshop participants have helped clarify ambiguities; raised issues, identified implementation conundrums, and have suggested new avenues to explore. Those of us who are doing a significant amount of training and or engaging others on this subject matter are becoming more comfortable in addressing the inherent complexities and dynamic tensions presented by the standards including issues of resource allocations, implementation, and the level of difficulty members face in their own practice settings.

We do not know the total number of persons who have participated in the many workshops or events at which the Standards of Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice have been presented. However, in July 2002, NCORED checked with its own members, NASW staff, and other sources and were able to ascertain that from July 2001 to June 2002 over 1000 persons had participated in at least one workshop or event.

Achievement of cultural competency requires the interest, dedicated time, and active participation of individuals in a learning process. The availability of information and materials to help with the process is essential. Ultimately, the support of the agencies and supervisors of practitioners in diverse practice settings is key to individual success in promoting culturally sensitive care. More recently, we have become aware of the need for additional materials to support the training modules. Options being considered are the production of tool kits for those wishing to either become trainers of trainers and for those wishing to train directly in cultural competency. We have also are considering the development of outcome measures against which culturally competent services and care could be measure.