Nine Action Steps to Boost Your CQ*

1. Develop and maintain relationships with community leaders and bridge builders across race, ethnicity and culture.

2. Examine both the assets and needs of the particular groups of people with whom you are working.

3. Identify and address issues relevant to the particular groups of people in question, such as history, language, learning style, communication, gender roles and value systems.

4. Strategically address individual behaviors, institutional practices and public policies that negatively affect certain groups of people.

5. Make it a point to attend learning forums, such as seminars and workshops, to deepen your understanding about race, ethnicity, culture and equity, and/or about the particular group of people with whom you are working.

6. Recruit, develop and retain diverse staff.

7. Make the extra effort to reach out to and include members of a particular group that is often left out.

8. Routinely review your capacity-building materials - training curricula, questionnaires and manuals - and delivery techniques with members of the group with whom you are working to ensure sensitivity and effectiveness.

9. Consistently pay attention to how your own assumptions and cultural background might affect your interaction with other people.

*Developed by Kien S. Lee, senior managing associate for the Association for the Study and Development of Community