Cultural Competency Training

The Cultural Competency Training Program was started in 2002 with seed funding from the Fund for Immigrants and Refugees, and has been supported in the past by the Field Foundation of Illinois, Polk Bros. Foundation, the Michael Reese Health Trust, the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, the University of Chicago, and the Fry Foundation. Today, the program is funded by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois. This program is focused on developing training curricula targeting health care providers, medical students, public health provides and social workers. The goal of the program is to provide health care providers and medical students with the necessary knowledge and skills to deliver culturally competent care and services to diverse populations.

The training curriculum used for this program was originally developed by thirty members of the Cultural Competence Task Force convened by the Illinois Department of Public Health, and has been used previously in over 100 trainings, reaching more than 1,300 health care providers. AHC has revised the original IDPH curriculum and created a more interactive and experiential curriculum that combines didactic presentations, small group discussions, role playing, and problem solving through case studies. The curriculum does not focus on any particular ethnic group as this could encourage stereotypical belief and is highly adaptable and utilizes diverse and interactive teaching methods. The length of the training, which can range from two to six hours, can be customized to fit the needs of the requested organization.

Over the past 6 years, AHC has provided numerous cultural competency trainings throughout Chicago benefiting approximately 700 health care workers and has worked with 25 health care organizations to build capacity for culturally competent health care.

For more information about this program, email the Program Staff.