LEARNING CIRCLES

The primary focus of the 2008-2009 project year is to prepare culturally competent child welfare practitioners. Students, as well as faculty, staff and community advisors, have identified cultural competency as the area in which they would like students to gain deeper understanding. In partnership with American Indian Projects, efforts are underway to introduce Learning Circles to the Child Welfare Training Project. These efforts place a particular focus on working more effectively with American Indians.

Expanding upon an AIP initiative during 2000-2001, Learning Circles presents both a curriculum and a process. A group of 10 non-American Indian scholars and group of 10 faculty and staff will be trained under the guidance of Priscilla Day and Anne Tellett who developed this model. Participants make a commitment to work on their own cultural competence through bi-monthly activities and reflection. In addition, all IV-E scholars and all faculty and staff are given the opportunity to participate in a number of experiential and training activities conducted by American Indian cultural consultants throughout the year. American Indian students are invited to participate in Culture and Language Institutes.

The basic model involves a retreat, trust building and experiential activities, speakers, readings, and a group project that leads to improved cultural competence within organizations. The Learning Circle groups will present at the annual conference. This training provides additional tools to create long-term organizational change in the area of culturally competent practice.

We have chosen this focus because American Indians are the largest minority population in our area, because our MSW program features studies in American Indian child welfare, and because all of our students, non-Indian and Indian alike, face intense struggles with cultural differences. We have come to believe that we are uniquely prepared to address the great learning opportunity that lies within this struggle. We hope to improve our students' cultural competency by exploring the behaviors, attitudes, structures and policies that either enable or impede workers and agencies that work in cross-cultural situations.

Child Welfare Scholars have expressed the need for greater skill and for the experiential dimension of cultural competency. This decision to introduce Learning Circles to our faculty, staff, and student body represents the department's commitment to respond to this need. We hope to make a significant impact on the cultural competence of our own program and institutionalize cultural competency within the UMD Department of Social Work. Our long term goal for this effort is to expand the Learning Circle opportunity to all students who are interested to participate.