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Artists: Casandra Williams-Sims & Jennifer Bendickson<% end if %>
Cultural Dynamics Education Project
History
United Way - Success by Six, The Minnesota Department of Human
Services, The Department of Children, Families and Learning,
concerned parents, community advocates, family and center-based
caregivers all collaborated to provide a vehicle for training
licensed Rule 2 and Rule 3 childcare service providers. The
focus was for caregivers that work with children from birth
to age twelve be trained on cultural sensitivity and respectful
care. In 1990, the Minnesota Legislature passed the Cultural
Dynamics Training Law. This innovative law was the first of
its kind in the country and it has been a catalyst for childcare
services that acknowledge and respect the cultural values, beliefs
and practices of all Minnesota families. The law recognizes
that all children need to be cared for in settings that affirm
who they are. Children also need to be taught, shown and modeled
unbiased attitudes about cultural differences and differences
in ability.
Building Cultural Connections Curriculum
The Building Cultural Connections curriculum was developed and
approved by the State of Minnesota Department of Children, Families,
and Learning. It focuses on the importance of culture in the
healthy social development of all children rather than on specific
cultural norms and practices. The training is not designed to
give answers about a specific culture or ethnicity. It does
address many of the concepts that are common to working with
children and their families around differences in culture and
differences in ability. The curriculum lends itself to being
used in a number of formats and can be tailored to meet specific
needs. Trainings are informal and interactive with many small
and large group activities that have exercises to keep participants
moving. The project was specifically designed to help participants
have fun while exploring a sensitive and challenging topic.
Who is Cultural Dynamics For?
The Project and Curriculum were developed specifically for Child
Care providers and staff. However, trainings are open to any
one wanting to explore how important a healthy cultural development
is to every child. No matter what we do or where we are from,
we all have influence on children by our actions and choices.
Therefore, it is important that we understand the cultural significance
of our behavior and how it may influence children's values and
beliefs. Trainings are delivered on an open registration basis,
or are custom-based for child care centers, organizations, agencies,
or businesses.
Expected Outcomes
A Cultural Dynamics Training will help participants:
develop skills to prepare children for success in a diverse world
understand the importance of culture in their own lives
understand how to model anti-bias behavior with children of all ages and their families
develop appropriate curricula for children that include culturally sensitive literature, activities, toys, equipment, and other resources
acquire skills to be proactive in their communication with families of diverse cultures.
learn how to recognize prejudice and develop anti-bias attitudes in themselves and in others
Trainers
All the trainers for the project have gone through an extensive
training process, and are certified to train with the Building
Cultural Connections curriculum. They come from many walks of
life but all share a common passion to facilitate the healthy
development of all children. The pool of trainers come from
all over the state and are child care providers, teachers, social
workers, community facilitators, etc., representing diverse
cultural backgrounds themselves.
Project Management
The Cultural Dynamics Education Project is being administered by the Early Childhood Resource Center in South Minneapolis. Project Coordinator and two site coordinators are responsible for coordinating the trainings and trainers. If you would like to contact your region's site coordinator for further information about trainings, click here.
For a schedule of trainings held in the state of Minnesota, click here.
