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Question: Hello - I'm working on community-building with residents of affordable housing properties. We're starting to have community nights, but I'm struggling with activities for residents that don't depend entirely on speaking the same language. Many members of the community are native Spanish speakers, and others are native English speakers. While we'll often have someone there that can help interpret, I'd like to find some activities that don't rely on interpretation & can allow residents to interact in a fun, one-on-one way. I've looked in many places and haven't found many ideas - do you have any suggestions? Anything is appreciated - as is the entire website - it's amazingly useful!
Answer: Thank you for contacting Ask an Advisor of the CTB. It sounds like you are engaged in important work. While we do not have particular expertise for this situation, we did want to share a few ideas. Often, common tasks are a helpful way of building community. For example, creating a community garden can bring a lot of people together for planning, cleaning up the area, digging the earth, tending to the garden, a celebration for the garden's creation. There may be other improvements in at your development or neighborhood that people can participate in. Sometimes having meetings to articulate concerns, finding common concerns, and then addressing what is manageable can document similarities between people and build trust in a series of small wins. Similarly, celebrations for particular events, preparing for the start of the school year, exchange of food, etc. If you have not already checked the CTB website, "Do the Work" tab listed on the homepage, take a look at Point 9. Enhancing Cultural Competence. This has links to external resources, activities, ideas about building a culturally competent organization that may be helpful. Again, thank you for contacting Ask an Advisor at CTB. Hopefully the ideas and information are helpful.
Question Date: Fri, 04/17/2009