Claudia Diaz Carrasco is an educator conducting community research about intercultural competence in the Inland Empire area of Southern California. She is also the 4-H Youth Development Coordinator for the University of California Cooperative Extension in Riverside County. I met Claudia last year when I took her five-week intercultural competence workshop. I learned a lot from Claudia and I am thrilled to introduce you to her today. No need to take notes. Download the transcript. Claudia provides so much insight into the issue of intercultural competence that a transcript was prepared for this episode. There is no need to take notes at a frantic pace. Download the transcript for this episode at Talaterra.com.
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Claudia provides so much insight into the issue of intercultural competence that a transcript was prepared for this episode. There is no need to take notes at a frantic pace. Download the transcript here.
[00:13]
Tania Marien: Welcome to the Talaterra podcast. This is your host, Tania Marien. I hope you've enjoyed learning from our guests these past few weeks. Today we implement the second component of this podcast. I created this podcast to bring attention to the good work of freelance educators working in natural resource fields and environmental education. I also created it to bring attention to topics of interest to these educators. This episode is the first episode in which we discuss a specific topic with a special guest. Today we discuss intercultural competency with an educator and researcher from Southern California.
[1:05]
Today my guest is Claudia Diaz Carrasco, a 4-H Youth Development Advisor for the University of California Cooperative Extension in Riverside County, California. I met Claudia last year when I took her five-week workshop called The Journey to Cultural Competence, Insights into the Latino Community. I spent some time speaking with Claudia about my freelance project, and I'm thrilled to welcome her to the podcast. Thank you, Claudia for making time for our conversation today.
Claudia Diaz C.: Yeah, thank you for having me, Tania.[1:40]
Tania Marien: As you know, I'm investigating the contributions that freelance educators in natural resource fields and environmental education make to their communities. I assert that independent educators are uniquely positioned to create change in their communities, and that their ability to move through communities and engage with people where they are means that they have the potential to converse with an audience that is more diverse then one might find at a museum, a botanical garden or a historical site.
What I'd like to talk with you today about is how independent educators can learn to engage with diverse audiences, and how they can work on developing intercultural competence on their own. Also, would like to talk about your program, your 4-H Leadership Program that you run for the University of California. Can you tell us about that program?
Claudia Diaz C.: Yes, 4-H is a program that has been in the US communities for over 100 years. It was funded through the US Department of Agriculture. It's delivered like nationwide in different countries through our land grant university systems. So in California, the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources (UCANR) is the one in charge of delivering in this program in our communities.
The 4-H mission is to really engage youth in all the areas providing them life skills, hands-on learning experiences for them to become leaders of their communities. At the same time as we're trying to advance the field of youth development, and we do this leadership training of life skill training (inaudible) through different areas, which are science, technology, engineering and math programs, our healthy living programs, and our citizenship programs, which are the ones that the USDA mandates for us to toafyp
So here in Riverside and San Bernardino, I am working with the 4H program for the last four years. One of the first missions that I took over was really the challenge of expanding and diversified our program. Traditionally, 4-H has served rural audiences. Riverside and San Bernardino are such diverse in not only rural and suburban and urban areas, but also of the different places where the people that lives here come from.
For me, has been like a perfect opportunity to merge my passion to creating future leaders, at the same time that I'm able to do research on cultural competence, extending the knowledge from my research to people in our communities that are working with youth, whether it's in a library staff, whether it's in the after-school setting, whether it's in summer camps or day camps. That's how the series that you were part of last year came from, you know, really in an attempt from the University of California to empower other educators through our research.
It's my pleasure to be here, and as you were mentioning, and please, if you need me to clarify on anything, just go ahead and ask me about it, but I really think that freelance educators play a critical role. As you were mentioning is like reaching to all these people that formal education settings are not currently reaching. Like I'm really fortunate to be hired for the university, the UCANR just to really looking for expertise on the areas that we were lacking like diversity and also 4-H programs in urban areas. But really, there is a lot of organizations that are not able to hire an expert on those areas. I do feel that oftentimes our educators in after-school settings, or freelance educators like is your case, and I assume the audience at least in today's podcast, people want to empower themselves. They want to have new knowledge, but then it's like, "Where do I start?" Especially with topics like cultural competence that speak to much so our inner self.
In my experience, a lot of educators, (inaudible) having our in the classroom, or in our teaching mode, when we want to be good role models for our students, and we want to transfer the best of our knowledge and ability to them, but when it comes to culture, it's like (inaudible) , and what are the eyes that I see the world, how? Sometimes, intentionally or not intentionally, the way that we see the world, that impacts the way that we educate. So really, cultural competence, there is different models and different authors that talk about building this competency in our educators. But I think the one thing that most of the models agree upon is in having this self awareness.
So most of my work is: how can we help our educators to start having that self-awareness of who they are, and how they show up into the classroom, into the camp setting, into the nature hike, or whatever the field trip leader, any role that they are playing in the youth, how they are bringing themselves, but also how they (inaudible) youth experience in nature.
[7:15]
Tania Marien: Want to have a conversation about how independent educators can learn to engage with diverse audiences because the independent educators work so much in informal learning environments outside of school, how can educators do this on their own? What would be the smart way for them to even start this on their own?
Claudia Diaz C.: Yeah. That's a loaded question. First of all, I'll just clarify a little bit. Me, being an employee from the University of California Ag and Natural Resources, I do work in the realms of higher education, and part of my job is doing this research publication of whatever. But at the same time, I really am a community-based researcher, so I do have a staff and volunteers that donate their time for us to be able to have after-school programs in our local school districts to host like, again, day camps during the summer, or summer camps overnight experiences.
So for me, it's really interested to lead in the merging of these two areas, whether some people have access to higher education, and go to traditional institutions, but they're also have these community-based organizations (inaudible) to provide services to the youth that is needed.
And definitely in California, we have a wide variety of diversity, not only again for the places with people (inaudible) come from, but also a diversity of environments. Like a diversity of socioeconomic status. I think it's critical for every freelance educators to recognize and to get to know the community they are living, or the community they are willing to work. For me, that would be the first thing.
As a lot of authors recognize, especially when we were trying to serve diverse communities, it's really we do it alone, and I think that's also in the probably the oversight that a lot of big institutions like the University of California or 4-H, or any of our local programs like Boys and Girls Scouts, our local community clubs, is we all try to do the things on our own, and really what research show us is that there is a strength in collaboration.
What I find particularly important when you talk to me about this project is that big organizations or the organizations that came to mind when it comes to after-school or out-of-school kind of programs, there is like some anchored organizations, big organizations, branded organizations that yet they may have the kids with them, but honestly, they don't have the expertise, like when it comes to environmental education, to nature hikes, to really providing these hands-on experience for the youth. Oftentimes, these organizations employ college students that are looking for a part-time job. They do a wonderful work engaging in the students, sharing the experiences, being the face-to-face. They have the high energy just to be in the classroom.
But oftentimes, these people didn't have the experience for themselves to develop programs. I think that for me, that was freelance can play a critical role. When generally is people that have followed their passion, that they have a high knowledge of expertise in an specific topic, and I think that when they are able to alight their expertise with any needs that these after-school programs may have, it's a strength for both of them. For you, is to be able to train other after-school staff, or to design a tailored program for these institutions, but also to deepen in the language of the schools, you know?
I always see this example, when I start working and partnering with educators for me to be able to expand the science contents of 4-H is like if I take someone outside to see a tree in the school setting for the kids, I can only talk about the main parts of the tree. You know, this is the bark, this is the leaves. But someone that has really spent years of their life doing youth programs or environmental education programs can have a way more engaging way to do it. So I think again, just sometimes the organizations may have their resources, but they don't have the expertise. I think that freelancers often have highest level of expertise, but they don't necessarily have the resources to impact the life of many youth.
I think for me, that's the key, and that's like when we can align these strategies of saying, "Educators, you know what you can offer? And how can we make it work so your expertise really goes longer, in terms of impact?" I think at the end of the day, both freelancers and programs that are serving youth and families in our communities, they want to have impact, and they want more people to experience these programs or more people to (inaudible) this knowledge, and I think that intersection is something that often we don't explore closely.
[12:19}
Tania Marien: So one thing that educators could do is to partner with local organizations. But how should these independent educators approach potential partners? How could they establish a rapport, and build trust and understanding with the community partners?
Claudia Diaz C.: I think something that is critical, especially in our communities, is really being able to identify what community needs. Often, universities or partners are driven by needs assessments, but really, the more the freelancer is immersed in their community, and can demonstrate a need of which places are not reaching in, again, we have sometimes organizations like these blind, these blindness on us that we are so immersed in our research, or the objectives, or the grants that we are receiving, that we often overlook what is really the community needs.
Again, I'm being part of the land grant university. The university has this mission to extend the research, but private university doesn't have that mission, you know all their programs. They are just trying to go through the day-to-day. But I think, well, I mean something that I always find valuable when I partner with independent educators is when I see them meet in the communities and organization, and the people that I want to partner with, or the freelancers has already recognized that's in need, oftentimes this freelancer had have the time to already develop a program, and to have a proposal. So oftentimes, they come to me with solutions, and say like, "Hey, I have, you know, it's the workshop that you were part of was specifically that," like this community organization saying, "I recognize that there is a staff need to develop the cultural competence, and I know that I don't have the expertise to do that training. But I looking into you as a higher education institute as to provide that to us.”
For me, it was doing the same thing, like you know I want to have people to work with the youth in our communities that have acquired this competence, so I'm willing to provide some of my time to create that space for professional development. But I think the easiest way to align a strategy, because all partnerships, the partnership development process, unfortunately, it takes time. But I really think that that time that’s spent pays back whether you're trying to develop partnerships first with the community so you get to know them, I mean, especially being a freelancer educator, sometimes it's like, "Well, you know I'm spending all these times with the community, and nobody's really (inaudible) me for that," but once you develop that expertise, I really think that it's something that pays back. At the same time that if you're trying to develop partnerships with an institution, just getting to know what are their mission goals? What are their yearly objectives? And really speaking to those, to the leadership, for me, it's always the best practice to align the strategies.
[15:26]
Tania Marien: How should independent educators think about equity in informal learning environments? It's more than just bringing a tried and true activity to a new audience. What considerations should be made before this?
Claudia Diaz C.: Yeah. Well, there is five principles that we … Basically there was like a task force in the division that I worked for a couple of years ago to be able to review the literature, and say, "What are programs need to be doing in order for them to be equitable, and to really serve, to reach other people?" So (inaudible) first of all, I guess my first, and this is just coming to the top of my mind, is having a good understanding on what equity means, and I think that's a concept that is often misunderstood in literature. I provide this picture for the people that is listening, and I love to see (inaudible) state directors.
There is kind of three guys that they are different heights trying to look across a football field. So depending of height of these kids, they are gonna need a different size of box behind their feet to be able to just overlook through the fence so they can see the football game. So for me, that's one of the best definitions of equity that I can find, because that doesn't mean that everything gets the same. It just means that everybody gets the right box for them to get to the place that they need to be.
So when it comes to independent educators, then I guess the first thing is building their own equity perspective. Oftentimes the programs that they are called to work for, they don't have this equity perspective. So when I look into that equity lens, for example, when I'm looking into partnership for the 4-H program, there is like four pieces that emerge from the literature that I always use to determine, okay, I do want to go and partner to this program, or I don't want to.
One of those underpinnings is having an understanding, a comprehensive understanding, of youth development. For me, what that means is extensive understanding of positive youth development, means that only those who have the youth in the center, but they recognize that this youth is part of a family, and there is as well part of a community. Like for example, you have a student that show up into my classroom, and they have experienced hunger at home, I need to understand that I'm not gonna address the youth, and I'm just gonna tell him to do the homework, but I might also need to provide a snack, because what he's experiencing at home. I'm not gonna (inaudible) students, so that for me means an extended understanding of youth development, so you (inaudible) becoming not only like a program provider, but really to be have in mind that the organizations that you are working are having this wraparound approach.
Again, after-school programs, for example, in the school districts, are really good doing that. If you are coming in as an educator, they already take care of all those pieces. They already giving them a healthy snack. They already provide transportation for the youth to be there, but that's one of the pieces, is if the organization that is calling me to do this work as an independent educator has this extended understanding of what the youth needs. That's one of the things that we follow, the other principle that we follow with (inaudible) psychological and social aspects of discrimination.
Unfortunately, a lot of the kids in our school, they do face these social aspects of discrimination, and so when we are creating a program or where you are deciding a program as an independent educator, it's just like making sure that you are taking in account that the experience youth in your community may have. We, in San Bernardino, we work with a lot of English as a second language learners. There is probably gonna be some words in the programming that these kids are not gonna be able to catch up at the first time, or may not be able to pronounce. So that kind of educator would be able to look out for those examples when the kid is trying to participate, and he's not having fun of that.
Again, I cannot point you at specific examples, because the priority of the programs and independent educators can work, it's infinite, but really, the guiding principle is: how can I content the psychological or social effects that kids are experiencing in this program?
The example that I always use when we are working with educators is, for example, don't assume that every kid has seen the ocean. That's not the truth of our communities in southern California. Some kids have might gone, some others have not gone, and so just being mindful of what are you gonna bring into the classroom, which (inaudible) see, and how can you make sure that the kids, the examples are relatable to the kids, not only to your own life experience. That's for me, that's critical of self awareness, like recognizing that what you have gone through your life might not be the reality of the kids that you are teaching. In the teaching, how are you contending with the social aspects that they might have for discrimination?
Other thing that we try always to focus is in the support of positive ethnic identity development. Again, I think especially when it comes to teenage age programs, kids start developing their identity. They do that through the (inaudible) of different groups. They do that having the sense of belonging to their school or to sports or anything that is in your life. The other thing this is really important for organizations to keep in mind is the ethnic identity, and how we foster this ethnic identity in our programs.
In 4-H, most of my work focuses on that: how can we bring up cultural celebrations to the day-to-day programming? For example, Mother's Day. Mother's Day in Mexico celebrated always like May 10th, versus different dates in the States. So again, how can I recognize the different places of the different cultural differences that the kids may have? I mean, I'm Mexican, so most of the times, I use examples from Mexican culture, but how can we mix Day of the Dead to create an ethnic identity for kids in my program? How (inaudible) relate to the other content that I'm trying to say?
Sometimes we use the Day of the Dead to create poem, and that's helping with (inaudible) students. So we are bringing a culture of peace to (inaudible) that needs to be covered at the school.
Other thing that is really important, and it's probably that's the challenge for independent educators, and that one I always ask them to do partnerships, is how would programs respond to economic poverty in order for a program to be equitable they need to be able to respond to the economic poverty that their participants may or may not be experienced, you know? This is the part when programs are equitable to make sure that all the students have transportation to make it to the place where the meeting is, that they make sure that they're providing snacks or food for the students that may not have experienced that.
Programs are providing supplies for the students, (inaudible) expecting every student to come with their own ruler or scissors, or things that for some communities might be not big deal, but from other communities, they may not participate in a program just because they didn't have the supplies that they were asked to bring at school.
Then the final point that it's always a challenge is how can you tailor that specific experiences, resources, needs and interest to the local Latino youth? I remember one of my first attempts to do an environmental education program was here in southern California doing a program for, in a school that I was in Hemet , and we wanted to use a curriculum that I was first closely developed in a forest land. So a lot of the activities, like the trees in the forest are way different. The trees in San Bernardino forest are completely different to the nature that you can experience in Hemet or the Coachella Valley. So yes, we want to teaching them about environmental education, but we want them to be relevant to the places that they live around.
So that's a really simplistic example, but it's really happened. Once we have choose a curriculum, we realize, well, this is a forest-based curriculum. Our kids are living closer to the desert than in the forest. That is kind of, do we recognize that we need to tailor our efforts to their specific experiences, and resources that this community has. Not even like a program for 4-H that has 100 years of services can do it on our own. I've partnered with around like 20 to 25 organizations in a yearly basis to be able to ensure that our programs are tailoring the efforts, are responding to economic poverty, (inaudible) spaces for ethnic identity development, are contending social aspects for discriminations. They are incorporating these extended understanding of youth development, which includes the family and the community, and not only the youth.
For me, that's like the shifter that I use when I'm trying to develop partnerships, like recognizing what 4-H cannot do, and then looking in the community for organizations that I cover one of these five points.
[25:15]
Tania Marien: Yeah, thank you. That are very good points. Thank you. How is your project coming along?
Claudia Diaz C.: Well, 4-H in Riverside and San Bernardino County, we have four main program strengths, if you may call it. We have our community club program, which is highly volunteer based. We also have our college and career development program, which are based on local high schools, and are helping low income students get their resources that they need to get into college.
We also have our leadership programs during the summer, which will have team-based … We have teams of teenagers leading camps for younger youth, and that's a main component of our leadership experience of 4-H. And we have all these school enrichment programs for environmental education that we do in 4-H.
So definitely as I was telling you, these principles are not something that is like a cookie cutter, and say the way that I respond to economic poverty in the community clubs are completely different to the way that we respond economic poverty during the summer. I'll give you some examples for two of them.
Our community clubs are mainly run by adult volunteers. We have around 1000 youth involved in these programs every year in 4-H, and transportation and meals are never an issue in our community club programs. The majority of the demographics in these program are like middle-income youth. So parents take turns to bring a snack to each meeting. There may be a kid that their parents never show up to the meeting, and therefore they are never asked to bring a snack, but if these kids come hungry, there's gonna be a snack available for him.
Also, there is such sense of different parents helping other parents that they give rides among themselves. So doesn't have any customary organizations to ensure that kids that are participating in these programs has transportation, because the clubs are a mixture of low income and middle-class youth that helps each other around.
In that program, most of my efforts are around creating ethnic identity development, and again, if they are gonna have a holiday party in December, make sure that it's not a Christmas party, you know? Because we do have kids that doesn't celebrate these religious holiday. Yes, it's okay to talk about holidays with the youth, but it's our job to make sure that we're talking about Hanukkah and Christmas, and just like a holiday break. That's one of the examples of my programs.
Differently to our (inaudible) programs, where we are based in local high schools, and we work predominantly low-income youth. In those meetings, part of my job is actually fundraise to be able to food in these meetings. We have given kids Uber kids, because most of the kids, they have parents that work different shifts, and so instead for us providing transportation, we just make a student sign agreement, and we give them an Uber card so they can make sure that they have transportation from the meetings and back.
These clubs are meeting also sometimes during the school times, so as well we can ensure that the school is providing lunch for them. For me, it's really hard to talk about a specific examples for programmings because it becomes so unique to the community.
Going back to your question about what would a freelancer educator should do, or how can they better support efforts in the community, one piece of it is like having a knowledge of the community. I think that's always gonna grant you in doing meaningful programs for whoever you want to serve. The second time is having that self-awareness and knowing where is your passion, what is your expertise? Then which type of population you are willing to work with, and which population you are not willing to (inaudible) . Because that self-awareness is gonna totally determine the type of partnerships that you are willing to create.
Then the third (inaudible) after you know your community, you know what is your expertise, and then you are looking for organizations that want to support you in this endeavor, is aligning that expertise (inaudible) . For me, in all of the 4-H programs, that's the majority of my work, just looking into my community. Who has the resources that I don't have? How can I foster this partnership? I mean, we have seen increase overall, really thanks to the efforts that we have do in the office, and really the amazing thing that we were able to build here.
When I received the 4-H program four years ago, we have around like 600 youth in Riverside County. I'm just gonna use Riverside County as an example. Today, we have created these different set of programs, and we're serving around 5000 youth annually. Yeah, so not only the numbers of the program have increased, but also the diversity. Just at the top of my mind, we used to have around like 10-15% of Latino youth. Now, we're having a big issue, because last year we report we were serving like 69% of Latino youth. Our youth population is around 50%, so we were basically over-serving Latino youth in the program.
I'll see some increases as the program as increased. We have greater funding challenges. It's not the same thing serving 600 youth and 5000, so I'm really moving forward to do fundraising programs, and fee-by-service contracts with people. But overall, what I really value is just be able to collect real data from the communities. We did have these literature review, and we have these five principles that emerged from the literature, and say like, "Hey, you need to provide ethnic identity development. You need to respond to economic poverty," but I didn't knew how that is gonna look into a community program.
So for these four years, informally and formally, we have been collecting data. So now I know some examples of how we can respond to economic poverty in different organizations. It will be a simple, like for example, nobody learns in a hungry stomach. So if you are gonna be called to do a day camp, for example, there is places in the community that offer free lunches during the summer, like libraries. So if you are doing that as an independent educator and you want to create something for the summer, it's like, well, I'm not gonna go and do it by myself. I'm just gonna find a library that has the free lunch program, and I'm gonna have my program right after all the student receive free lunch. So it's like you as an independent educator, you don't need to fundraise for the food. You don't need to coordinate about all the food safety practices, but you are aware that if you're gonna have an equitable program, kids need to eat.
So it's probably just going to decide, and say like, "Hey, you know I know you're giving free lunches here, and the kids are not gonna have anything to do afterwards. Can we do some educational programs here?" It could be like as simple as that, versus saying, "You know, I'm just gonna do this summer programming, and now I need like $10,000 to serve this many kids." A lot of the times, when it comes to equity, is having access or having access to safe spaces. There is spaces in our community that unfortunately may not feel safe for certain segments of our community, so it's like I'm gonna select with people, like a library is generally a place that all families are familiar with and are willing to do, versus like a city hall that it will be threatening for some people.
Again, everything is based on how well you know your community, how well you know your expertise. Recognize when you need help, and what I always find … Cultural competence, I'm really happy when people say, "Hey, you know I really don't know how to manage this segment of the population," or, "I'm really afraid of doing that." I think just bringing those things, just starting those conversations, and recognizing the areas that we as educators feel uncomfortable really brings value to the table.
Again, for me, it's still like I'm getting to become comfortable working with the US educational system. I didn't grew up in this country, so like in Mexico, we don't have school districts like we have them here. We don't have a PTA meeting, like a formal. We don't have a board of education, and so sometimes when I'm going to a school settings, I recognize that I need to go with someone that has been raised here in the US, and can translate this organizational infrastructure pieces for me. I don't know who is more important, if the president of the board of education, or the principal, or I don't know which roles they play. So just really being able to have this self-awareness and say like, "Where are we playing? Which area in am I playing, and who do I need to talk to make a program happen is really (inaudible) to the programming.”
[34:57]
Tania Marien: Yeah. That is fantastic work, Claudia. That's fantastic that your program has grown the way that it has in four years that you've been working in it. That is just impressive.
You've worked with huge populations of youth and families, and I have this recurring conversation with other educators about people being afraid of nature. I was wondering, based on your experience, what have you noticed or observed that creates anxiety when it comes to nature or being outdoors?
Claudia Diaz C.: You know, in my experience, I want people in the audience to know I work predominantly with low-income Latino youth, with this particular segment of the population, really one of the fears is not knowing. Like when I think about my kids just going and touching plants or climbing a tree, there's always the normal fear that a parent has, like are they gonna fall? Are they gonna touch something and have an allergy? For me, it really is like, one, not knowing about what really means being with the nature.
I have all types of questions from parents like, we say that we're gonna do a field trip. Then I call on the phone, the parents say like, "Do they need to be in a raincoat and raining boots? And do they need to like …" almost they want to have a whole like a lab coat or anything like for them to be able to go to a field trip. It's like, "No, we're just gonna go in a nature hike. All they need is comfortable shoes and sunscreen," you know? I think one of the challenges is just being more specific about what it means to take a kid to the nature.
I once have a field trip taking some kids to the river, and then it's like, "Is my kid is gonna drown in the river?" Like parents, and it's human nature just to go to the catastrophic scenario. So when we are inviting a new community to experience the outdoors, just being clear like, "Hey, we're gonna go to whatever forest, or we're gonna go to this local park, and we are gonna do a park, or and we are gonna do games," just really being as specific, that's something that I have helpful with the parents.
Also, always providing safety guidelines. I think for any activity that is not like the day-to-day after-school program or camp or whatever, if you hand out to the parents like a handout that has five bullets, and say like, "For your safety, wear comfortable shoes, and wear sunscreen, and bring a hat," and these things, they make parents aware that you are recognizing that there are safety procedures that needs to be follow, and that you are aware of those, and you're letting them be aware of those, that generally helps with these anxiety with the families that I work with.
Then really the third piece, like sometime the anxiety is not related to nature. It's like who is gonna be leading my field trip? There is some community that have no problem trusting someone in a position of authority like a teacher. Some communities don't have, and they just recognize the teacher as an authority. I think it's really a problem when we haven't built a relationship with our communities or with our parents, and then (inaudible) a piece of paper and say “Sign-off here”, because your kid is gonna go here (inaudible) . Often the question I get from parents is like, "Who is gonna be the leader? What expertise do they have? What education do they have?" Or there is, depending on the cultural background, generally, or what I have find in the research, is that middle-class White communities are okay just knowing like, oh, it's a third-grade teacher, and has this position of authority, and that seems to be calming for them. A Latino family is gonna want to know the name and the last name, and who is the grandma of whoever is gonna be the field trip leader, you know?
It's just like that relationship based community, and so they need to know when they are gonna sign the paper, they need to have in their minds the face of who is gonna be, and how do these people got here. Definitely, if you're an educator, and never say like, "Hello and goodnight, like your kid did this today at class," and you haven't pre-established that relationship, it's gonna be really hard for families. Again, I'm not giving you a concise answer, but there is some …
I think the three main things I experienced when working with youth in outdoor spaces is safety concerns, them not having a relationship with the people who is in charge, per se of the trip, and then just not knowing the exact activities. Again, when I send the flier that says, "Let's visit the Santa Ana River," parents don't even know that the Santa Ana River has so much invaded species, and it's not even deep in the places that you can access them, because it's contaminated. It's not even safe to get into the water, so all we're gonna do is just go and look into the pollution. We're not gonna let the kids go inside.
But it's all these things that happen in a parent's mind, and if your communication is not clear and concise, then they are just gonna say no. It's time consuming. I have had to spend several minutes with a parent saying, "You know, I really want (inaudible) to go to this field trip, and it's important, because it cover this content of the science class," and really all we're gonna do is to collect water samples, or really all we're gonna do is to watch (inaudible) ." So just having that conversation sometimes, parents will like, "Yes, it's okay for my kid to go," and sometimes they have to say like, "No, you know I think they are too young," or sometimes I have parents tell me like, "Yeah, I will let her go, but if the brother goes with her."
So I think other things that I didn't mention on those principles is really finding that flexibility, and adapting the program to whatever the community is telling you to do. I have tried both things, programs where only the youth is involved, and programs that the youth and families is involved. When I am working with Latino audiences the family approach generally works better, it increases participation, it decreases anxiety on all participants, and for when I have funding available to get the full family, that's always my strategy, to go around it .
[41:42]
Tania Marien: Well Claudia, thank you so much. It’s been very helpful, and I am sure it’s given listeners plenty to think about, and you’ve sparked some ideas, I’m sure. Thank you so much.
[41:59]
Do you want to learn more about intercultural competence? Visit the show notes for this episode to learn about a professional development opportunity for freelance environmental educators. You’ll find the show notes at Talaterra.com.