FCS Agent Only Resources

Looking for a creative and inexpensive way to enhance the cultural competency of Latino and non-Latino groups in your community?

The Culture Club Program brings together Latino women and non-Latino women from the community to increase understanding between the two cultures, to build language skills and to develop a basis for friendship and community support. By improving cultural competence among participants, negative stereotypes and cultural misunderstandings can be overcome.

Description of the Culture Club Program in Bedford County

The club started as a four session program which met for 2 hours once a week.  Each session had a theme:

1. Getting to Know You and Your Country
2. Foods of the Countries
3. Holidays and Celebrations
4. Hobbies and Leisure Time

At each session participants shared a presentation about one of the countries represented (Argentina, Mexico, Honduras and the United States).  Participants then were divided into pairs of English-speaking and Spanish-speaking to practice conversation in both languages about the theme for the evening with language help sheets.  Personal stories were shared by different participants each night. Activities, which focused on the theme for the evening, were shared. Included sharing traditional dishes from the countries with a bilingual recipe booklet for the foods night, enacting traditional Mexican and United States birthday parties for the celebrations night, and sharing examples of hobbies for the last night.

After the original four sessions the group has continued to meet monthly with the Latino women sharing a program one month and the non-Latino women sharing the next. Topics have included making tamales, a re-enactment of a posada for Christmas, making Valentines, sharing a Fall weenie roast, learning about the Day of the Dead celebration, watching a videotape of a local Quinceñera celebration as well as field trips to Latino markets and local stores.

Participants Response to the Program

Of the fifteen participants, eighty-seven percent of the participants who responded to post-program survey reported:

• Strongly agreed they met people they would not have normally met.
• Strongly agreed they increased their knowledge of the other culture.
• Strongly agreed they felt more comfortable around people of other cultures and other languages.

This program can be adapted for different age-groups such as 4-H clubs, senior centers, after-school programs, Family and Community Education clubs, churches and worksites.

Suggested Target Audiences

This program can be adapted for different age-groups such as 4-H clubs, senior centers, after-school programs, Family and Community Education clubs, men’s and women’s clubs, churches and worksites.

How to Offer a Program in Your Community

For more information about implementing this program in your   community, contact your county UT Extension office, or Contact the Program Developer: Whitney Danhof, University of Tennessee Extension Bedford County Telephone: (931) 684-5971

State Contacts

Barbara (Bobbi) Clarke, PhD, RD
Professor & Extension Health Specialist,
Co-Director UT Center for Community-based Health Initiatives
University of Tennessee Extension
Family & Consumer Sciences
119 Morgan Hall
Knoxville, TN 37996-4501
Telephone: (865) 974-8197
Fax: (865) 974-5370
E-mail: bclarke@utk.edu

Whitney Danhof
University of Tennessee Extension
Bedford County
2105 Midland Road
Shelbyville, TN 37160
Telephone: (931) 684-5971
E-mail: wdanhof1@tennessee.edu