OUR CULTURE

What is Culture?

Culture is the lens through which we have been taught (for better or for worse) to view the world.

What is Cultural Competence?

Cultural competence is a set of competencies and skills that individuals and organizations can use to create an environment that values diversity. How does one do this?

Knowledge: Gaining information about trends and people who bring diverse assets to ADTC.

Awareness: Learning about yourself, your biases, how you interact with others, and the environment.

Skills: Developing behaviors that model a value for diversity and inclusion of everyone here at camp.

What Happens in a Community that Does Not Value Diversity?

• Bias is when people screen out evidence that contradicts their existing perceptions. Many people were raised in homogeneous communities. They gravitate towards people like themselves, and they are uncomfortable with differences they don't understand.
• Stereotypes are fixed generalizations about others with certain dimensions of diversity. These judgments don't take into account the facts or the reality of the here and now.
• Collusion is cooperation with others, knowingly or unknowingly, to reinforce stereotypical attitudes, prevailing behaviors, and norms that limit people, through denial, silence, or active cooperation.
• Prejudice is when people see differences as weaknesses. Prejudice can turn into discrimination, ethnocentrism (seeing one's own group as superior to others), and in its worst incarnation, oppression.