A Youth Leader's Guide to Building Cultural Competence 

Chapter Three 

The Young People in Your Group 

Getting to Know the Young People in Your Program  

The third step to building cultural competence has two parts:  

1.  getting to know the young people in your program as individuals and not as representatives of their 

cultural group; and  

2.  learning about their cultures.  

As a caring adult who works with youth, you already know how important it is to become acquainted with 

the unique personalities of each young person in your program. You know that every teenager has his or 

her own likes, dislikes, experiences, sense of humor, ambitions, attention span, skills, personal style and 

family situations. A big part of the fun of working with a group of young people is getting to know them 

as individuals and working with the diversity hey bring to the group.  

As you focus on building cultural competence, be sure that you continue to view the young people in your 

program as individuals. Beware of the temptation to quickly explain behavior as the result of culture. 

 Any knowledge gained about members of a particular group must be balanced with the view that each 

person is also a unique individual. 

14

 Nor should you expect any individual young 

person to be the ambassador for their racial or ethnic group or to be able to 

View the young 

explain the group's entire range of cultural beliefs. Always be ready for surprises: 

people in your 

just when you think you have learned a  fact  about a cultural group's beliefs or 

group as 

attitudes, a young person's behavior or attitude will directly contradict it!  

individuals. 

Lastly, remember that the terms Asian American, Latino/Latina, African 

American, European American and Native American are imprecise and mask a broad spectrum of cultural 

diversity. The continent of Asia contains numerous countries ranging from Sri Lanka to Korea. 

Latinos/Latinas draw their ancestral heritage from Europe, Central and South America and may be 

descendents of Europeans, tribal Indians, Africans or a combination. European Americans have cultural 

roots in many different countries in both Western and Eastern Europe, as well as from places where 

Europeans settled through history. African Americans have ancestral roots among the numerous countries 

of Africa, as well as in the Caribbean and South and Central America. There are over 300 Native 

American tribes, each with its own set of beliefs and traditions. Differences among regions within 

countries of family origin add to the diversity in large cultural groups. Allow the young people you are 

working with to define themselves for you.  

Keeping these cautions in mind, listen to the young people in your group. Start paying attention to cultural 

issues having an impact on young people in your group. Keep in mind the very same questions listed in 

Section One. If you have difficulty answering many of those questions for all teens in your program, you 

know that you have a lot of interesting learning to do. Tips are listed below for how you can increase your 

knowledge about any cultural group. 

Focusing on Economic and Sexuality Issues  

Research indicates that the sexual behaviors that put young people at risk for HIV/AIDS and unwanted 

pregnancy are often tied to what teens see in their future. Those visions are often linked to economic