The Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, participates in the coordination of the New Jersey Statewide Network for Cultural Competence. The Network grew out of a technical assistance visit to New Jersey by the National Center on Cultural Competence. It is a collaborative initiative of the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, the Department of Human Services, and a number of New Jersey agencies and organizations, including The Boggs Center.

The mission of the network is:

"to strengthen culturally competent services in the State of New Jersey for people with diverse needs, and to facilitate access by individuals, families, providers and professionals to these services. People with diverse needs are defined as "those with varying abilities and disabilities, cultures, languages, and social and health care needs."   

Three major projects of the network are:

• Coordination of a listserv to share ideas, resources, and training opportunities in cultural competence within New Jersey.
  
• An organizational survey to determine expertise in serving people with diverse needs from various cultural backgrounds;
• and the development of a web site about the network that would also house results from the survey.

New Jersey Statewide Network for Cultural Competence brochure

Cultural Competence Collaborative/Cultural Awareness Days

The Boggs Center also participates in the coordination of a Cultural Competence Collaborative. The Collaborative was organized at a meeting of The Boggs Center Consumer Advisory Council to facilitate collaborative initiatives in cultural competence by the New Jersey agencies funded through the Administration on Developmental Disabilities, The Boggs Center, Disability Rights New Jersey, and the NJ Council on Developmental Disabilities.

The Collaborative includes partners from UMDNJ, the NJ Department of Human Services, NJ Department of Health and Senior Services, and a variety of disability networks and organizations.

The Collaborative has sponsored a series of Cultural Awareness Days. The cultural awareness days are training events for disability service providers to enhance their awareness of specific cultural communities in New Jersey.

The first of this series was held September 17-18, 2004, titled La Communidad Latina y las Incapacidades: Enfrentando las Barreras (The Latin Community and Disabilities: Confronting the Barriers). The second in the series, was held on June 15, 2007, entitled The South Asian Community and Disabilities: Raising Awareness, Facing Challenges, Accessing Resources.

The organizations who have been collaborating to sponsor these cultural awareness days are planning a conference on December 10, 2011, Arab American Communities and Disabilities: Getting to Know You, Getting to Know Us.

Top Down and Grassroots Up: Two Initiatives in Cultural Competence describes The Boggs Center's involvement in cultural competence efforts, presented at the Association of University Centers on Disabilities annual meeting.

Project Director: William Gaventa