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Question: Hi CTB,
I live in a small town in central CA but I grew up in.... Kansas!!!!! So I had to write to you. My dad was a prof at KSU. No kidding. Kansas was a wonderful place to grow up. Wouldn't trade it for anything!

Here's my question: I haven't spent a lot of time reading everything on your site; there is SO much to read! I'm hoping you can point me in the best direction. I am a parent of two school aged children. Our town is about 40% White, 55% Latino, 5% Punjabi. 70% of the kids in our schools qualify for free/reduced meals, so money is an issue for most folks. Many of the Latinos and Punjabi adults do not speak English. Our schools are in pretty poor shape, both in terms of academics and facilities. In Nov. '18, some people (of which I am one) would like to pass a school bond or a tax so that we can raise money to fix the schools and haev better programs. However, we all agree that the community is not unified and there is a lack of trust between different groups. In addition, our largest voting majority are elderly or "empty nesters", so they no longer have a child in school.

I believe that we need to figure out how to build trust between the groups and unite the community, so that we can pass a bond or a tax for the schools.

HOW can we build community and trust between such a wide variety of people, who are different in age, culture/ethnicity, socioeconomics, and language, and who have very different goals?

Thank you very much!
Answer:

Hello Karen,

Thank you for coming to us with such an amazing request.

It’s always fulfilling to find people interested in bringing their community closer together to improve and better their surroundings. We faced something similar in a municipality we were working with to develop a more trusting and coherent relationship between the locals and refugees. It was difficult to build this trust between the local residents and the refugees, because there has been a history of stereotype and prejudice between the two groups for a number of years, due to historical reasons, along with some lack of knowledge about each other’s cultures. Our first step was to understand the situation. We met with as many people as we could from different religions, different nationality, and different socio-economic background, and discussed their views of the situation. Then, We found a person from each group, that is trusted her/his community, to communicate to them using his/her understanding of their culture. We were able to organize through their help joint roundtables to discuss their challenges, the needs of their communities, and potential solutions… it eventually lead to build a more trusting relationship between the groups, however that took us two years of consistent work and activities to bring them together. What began with few numbers turned into a bigger number.

I would like to note that it is important to have an impartial facilitator with excellent communication skills leading the meetings. It is extremely important for the participants to feel that they are all heard and cared for equally.

This approach was the best for the situation that we were in, however it does not necessarily mean that it would work for you. You can use it as an example or guide to develop something similar or completely different.

Please follow the hyperlinks below for more information:  

Chapter 3. Assessing Community Needs and Resources

Chapter 7. Encouraging Involvement in Community Work

Chapter 17. Analyzing Community Problems and Solutions

Chapter 18. Deciding Where to Start

Chapter 19. Choosing and Adapting Community Interventions

Chapter 27. Cultural Competence in a Multicultural World

 Good luck with your intiative, let us know how it goes.

Question Date: Sat, 03/26/2016