Ithaca College

Cultural competence refers to an ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures and socio-economic backgrounds. Developing cultural competence results in an ability to understand, communicate with, and effectively interact with people across cultures. Join us for this interactive works shop on cultural competency.

This workshop gives participants a basic framework, including definitions to develop understanding of the relationship between diversity, inclusion and cultural competency and some tools for assessing and developing cultural competency in their areas.

Facilitated by: Laura Branca and Kirby Edmonds, TFC, Training for Change 

Dates/Times: 

Thursday, March 24th at 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Monday, April 4th at 1:00 p.m.- 5:00 p.m.

Tuesday, May 10th at 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. 

Location: Peggy Ryan Williams Center, Office of Human Resources' Conference/Training Room  

Refreshments will be provided.  

This event is open to staff and faculty; managers and supervisors are particularly encouraged to attend.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Michelle Rios-Dominguez at mriosdominguez@ithaca.edu or (607) 274-1506. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.

To register, click the link: https://form.jotform.com/60557947061158  

About the Presenters

Laura Branca is a managing partner at Training for Change (TFC) Associates, founded in Ithaca in 1982. She leads interactive training and retreats on organizational change, planning, leadership development, team building, communication, decision-making, handling conflict, diversity inclusion, and building culturally competent organizations and coalitions. She particularly enjoys teaching group dynamics and training and facilitation skills. Her associate at TFC is Kirby Edmonds.

Laura is Board President and a co-owner of Moosewood, Inc., and a Senior Fellow with the Dorothy Cotton Institute. She also designs and facilitates the Multicultural Resource Center's Talking Circles on Race and Racism. Laura has twenty-seven years pf experience teaching conflict management, helping people resolve interpersonal, organizational and community conflicts, and mediating for the Community Dispute Resolution Center.

Kirby Edmonds, a managing partner at Training for Change (TFC) Associates, has designed and delivered numerous workshops for counselors in the areas of basic counseling, group counseling and developing cultural competency.

He has designed training workshops, written manuals, and provided consulting services for a wide variety of organizations and networks including UNICEF, NTEU, Corning, Inc., Pennsylvania Department of Health, National Skill Standards Board, National Rural Development Partnership, Supreme Court of Ohio, AFL/CIO, Solidarity Center, union executives in the manufacturing sector, migrant workers' alliance in New York State, and a multicultural leadership project for youth. Kirby is a trained mediator with over 25 years' experience managing and resolving interpersonal, multi-party, inter-organizational and community conflicts. He also teaches courses in conflict management and cooperative conflict resolution.