A MULTICULTURAL FIVE-YEAR MASTER PLAN FOR THE REDUCTION OF ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUG PROBLEMS IN SAN MATEO COUNTY

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B. Multicultural Approach


The Master Plan process in San Mateo County emphasizes the changes in demographics occurring as a result of population shifts in the past twenty years. In so doing, some discussion has taken place regarding a parallel shift in the terms used to describe the phenomenon of change in the make-up of the community. The term minority has fallen into disuse, and was for a time replaced by the term special populations. The latter term was believed to signal that people of certain groups are not in a lesser status, but rather in a special status with regard to their programmatic and service needs. Many have noted, however, that the term special seems to imply that certain groups desire more or better services than the general population when, in fact this is not the case. Their needs and desires are not special, they are different.

Members of the communities joining in the focus groups repeatedly emphasized that the issue is one of relevance. People who must access programs, services, and activities to address health and human services problems, their educational needs, or their involvements with the law enforcement and criminal justice systems, want those programs, services, and activities to be relevant to their needs and situations. Relevance, in their terms, includes linguistic appropriateness and cultural awareness.

The term culture can be taken to mean the broad development of individuals - - through education, discipline, training - - in their homes, families, institutions, neighborhoods, and communities. In this broad sense, culture is a term appropriate not only to ethnic strains and places of origin, but also to any croup of individuals within the larger community who share common values, traditions, traits, characteristics, thoughts, feelings, problems, and needs.

Should a group find programs, services, and activities inaccessible to them overtly or covertly, real or apparent - - then they may not be adequately

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served. In other instances, programs, services, or activities are offered, but that which is provided is not provided in a manner having meaning for the group served. This failure to have impact may be a failure of the system to provide bilingual staffing, or it may involve subtler issues of cultural values, traditions, and beliefs not being acknowledged and respected in the provision of the programs, services, and activities.

In developing the focus group process, outreach was made to the following groups and their advocates in the County:

  • Adolescents/Youth;
  • Alcohol- and Drug-Exposed Infants;
  • American Indians;
  • Asians/Pacific Islanders;
  • Blacks/African Americans;
  • Developmentally, Mentally, and Physically Disabled;
  • Gay Men and Lesbian Women;
  • HIV Positives, and People with ARC/AIDS;
  • Homeless;
  • Injection Drug Users;
  • Latinos/Hispanics;
  • Persons with Multiple Diagnoses;
  • Pregnant and Postpartum Women;
  • Rural/Isolated Groups;
  • Seniors/Older Adults; and
  • Women.

Because it was believed that the above multicultural groups might not be fully represented in the four systems area focus groups - - Health, Social Services, Education, and Criminal Justice - - a fifth track on Multicultural Issues was created. This group, and the energy and insight of its participants, was one of the successes of the San Mateo County Master Plan process.

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