Cultural Competency Remix: An Advanced Peer Exchange

Date:  Saturday, July 21, 9:30am - 12:30pm
Price:  FREE

Presenters:  Diana Lee, National Community Development Institute; Patricia St.Onge, Seven Generations Consulting; Beth Applegate, Applegate Consulting Group

Making cultural competency real means transforming the way nonprofit leaders understand and practice capacity building.  This session is a peer exchange for advanced-level practitioners, who have been intentional about focusing attention to cultural dynamics throughout their work for more than three years. Join in a powerful exchange among colleagues to sharpen analysis of current dilemmas and identify practical solutions. We will consider issues of structure going beyond interpersonal relations, and brainstorm how to seize opportunities to make lasting change.

About the Presenters

Beth Applegate, Applegate Consulting Group

Beth Applegate, is the principal of Applegate Consulting Group (ACG), an organization development (OD) practice that assists national and international nonprofit organizations, government agencies and socially responsible for-profit corporations with developing human and organizational capacity and building a more just and equitable society. Beth is one of five contributors selected by the Alliance for Nonprofit Management to develop a framing paper on building cultural group solidarity in the context of developing multi-racial societies through capacity building in the nonprofit sector. The Alliance's Cultural Competency Initiative aims to transform the nonprofit capacity building field, catalyze nonprofit leadership and thereby spark larger social change. Beth was also selected to serve on the OD Network's Dialogue on Diversity & Multiculturalism Planning Committee. Beth's work is inextricably linked to advancing democratic processes and humanistic values.

Diana Lee, National Community Development Institute

A native of Oklahoma, Diana has worked for equal access to health, education, social and legal services for youth and adults living with sickle cell and other special health care needs for over fifteen years. One of California's first state-certified sickle cell counselors, Diana served as the co-founder and past Executive Director of the Sickle Cell Community Health Network of Northern California. Prior to joining NCDI, she was an active advocate on behalf of children and adults with a broad range of disabilities and special health care needs, serving as a consultant-trainer for the California Department of Education, assisting parent groups, schools, and professionals around California to build effective partnerships through trainings, one-on-one consultation, technical assistance, and publications. An alumnus of the LeaderSpring (formerly Eureka Communities) Fellowship for non profit directors, Diana holds a B.S. in Health Science with an emphasis in Community Health Education from San Francisco State University.

Patricia St.Onge, Seven Generations Consulting

Patricia St.Onge (Haudenosaune) is a partner at Seven Generations Consulting.  She does organizational consulting, coaching and training.  Her approach is to acknowledge the wisdom is in the room, and to build on the strengths of the individuals, organizations and communities with which she works.  She is Quebecoise and Haudenosaune; she lives in Oakland with her partner, their six daughters and seven grandchildren.