Helping you Learn to Organize, Tailor, and Deliver Services to Culturally Diverse Families

Cultural Perspectives on Parenting was a two-part national satellite educational series from Iowa State University Extension. This program was designed to help you understand the influence of culture on parenting, and how to use family-centered practices to better support families of diverse cultures. In turn, these families will be better able to meet the development needs of their children, and build on their families’ strengths.

October 23, 2003

Rosa Milagros (Amy) Santos
University of Illinois- Urbana
...learn about understanding and developing cultural competence and using family-centered practices to work with families of diverse cultures.

William D. Allen
Outreach at Life Innovations, Inc., Minneapolis, MN
...explore ideas with us related to the role of culture in parenting and working with families of diverse cultures.

November 13, 2003

Cynthia Garcia Coll
Brown University, Rhode Island
...research related to parent/school involvement involving families of three different cultures (Dominican, Portugese, Cambodian), and how socioeconomics influences parenting.

Francisco Villarruel
Michigan State University
...research and practical suggestions on working with Latino youth and their families.

The First Step: Understanding
Cultural Competence

Cultural competence is the ability to learn from and relate respectfully to, people of your own culture as well as people from other cultures. It’s having a better understanding of how other people think about things, which helps you find common ground. Gaining this knowledge helps you adjust your behavior, as well as the organization you represent. It’s the first step you can take to better assist families of diverse cultures.

Culture is More than Heritage

Most people think of culture as heritage, but it’s much more. Culture is a combination of thoughts, feelings, attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviors that are shared by a racial, ethnic, religious or social group.

Cultural Perspectives on Parenting will help you tie these and other key concepts together to help you better meet the needs of families in an increasingly diverse world.

This will be the 5th national satellite series on a family/parenting topic that Iowa State University Extension has produced. Past topics include:

• Family resilency;
• Building a safe community for youth and families;
• Media violence; and
• Healthy teen development.