ABSTRACT
The growing demographic changes and ethnic and cultural diversity in the United States is increasing the demand for culturally competent public servants. At its most basic level, culturally competent public administration is a “respect for, and understanding of, diverse ethnic and cultural groups, their histories, traditions, beliefs, and value systems” in the provision and delivery of services (Bush 2000). In practice, culturally competent public administration emphasizes the capacity of public organizations and their employees to effectively provide services that reflect the different cultural influences of their constituents or clients. Culturally competent practices have been used to:
1. develop recommendations for national standards on culturally and linguistically appropriate services in health care (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2001);
2. develop traditionally based conflict resolution processes for Native Hawaiian families (Hurdle 2002);
3. identify culturally competent social work practices for Native Americans (Weaver 1994);
4. provide training for home-based psychiatric services to Latino families (Zayas et al. 1997);
5. identify marriage and family therapy guidelines for non-AfricanAmerican therapists working with African-American families (Bean et al. 2002); and
6. integrate hip-hop culture into English curricula to help AfricanAmerican youth improve their critical writing skills (National Education Association 2003).
