We have a policy on cultural humility. Here’s why.
The work of the Valley Medical Center Foundation directly supports an incredibly diverse patient population in Santa Clara County, and a health system dedicated to delivering care in that context. This has lots of practical implications, like providing translation services or recruiting a workforce that reflects the local community. But it also means understanding how health disparities are directly linked to racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of oppression.
As such, the Board of Directors of the VMC Foundation implemented a Policy on Cultural Humility in 2018 to better align our work with the community we serve. We did this for many reasons, including;
- Culturally aware staff members are more successful at working with and building trust within multicultural communities.
- Increasing cultural humility among the board, organizational leadership, staff, and volunteers can help employees and clients feel more comfortable and secure in the workplace.
- Nonprofits with inclusive practices are often more successful at attracting and retaining high quality talent.
- Nonprofit organizations work more successfully with partner organizations when they have strengths internally in cultural humility.
- Ultimately, greater attention to inclusion and cultural humility will result in our organization being more effective in our work because we will benefit from and utilize a wide range of talent, input, and engagement in achieving our mission.
The full policy can be read here.
We aren’t the only organization doing this kind of work, and we hope others join in. Please connect with us if you do.
