RESOLUTION NO. _____________

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS, COUNTY OF SAN MATEO, STATE OF CALIFORNIA

* * * * * *

RESOLUTION ENDORSING COUNTYWIDE

CULTURAL COMPETENCE STANDARDS

______________________________________________________________

RESOLVED, by the Board of Supervisors of the County of San Mateo, State of California, that

WHEREAS, the County of San Mateo is committed to treating people with respect and dignity; and

WHEREAS, the County of San Mateo adheres to the philosophy and practice that decisions are based on careful consideration of future impact, rather than temporary relief or gain; and

WHEREAS, in August 2007 the County Manager’s Office convened representatives from departments across the County to discuss the further integration of promising cultural competence practices into the organization; and

WHEREAS, the dialogue resulted in the creation of the Countywide Cultural Competence Committee; and

WHEREAS, over the last two years the Countywide Cultural Competence Committee has met regularly and developed a countywide framework and resource inventory of cultural competence activities; and

WHEREAS, the Executive Council and this Board of Supervisors has been presented with the following standards developed by the Countywide Cultural Competence Committee; The standard are as follows:

ORGANIZATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY

Standard 1.1: The County of San Mateo values the diverse cultures represented in the community and within the organization. The County supports the development of skills and diverse representation in its workforce to increase its knowledge, appreciation, and practice of cultural competency.

Standard 1.2: The goal of staff diversity will be disseminated and incorporated into the organizations’ mission statements, strategic plans, goals and policies.

Standard 1.3: The County of San Mateo measures progress in achieving its cultural competency standards through ongoing evaluation and assessment of its practices.

CONTRACTORS

Standard 2.0: The County of San Mateo takes into consideration cultural competence in the selection of its contractors.

COLLABORATION AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Standard 3.1: The County of San Mateo models and promotes diverse, balanced, representative participation in its civic engagement efforts and community input processes as part of its decision making.

Standard 3.2: The County of San Mateo strives to ensure public communication is linguistically accessible to the people it serves.

AND, WHEREAS, these standards are intended to be used by each department of the County of San Mateo to assess and continuously improve their work in the area of cultural competence.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Supervisors with the adoption of this resolution endorses the Countywide Cultural Competence Standards and encourages each department of the County to apply the standards.

* * * * * *