1. Multiculturalism
Plan: Moving
Forward with a
Diverse and
Representative
Volunteer Force
U n i t e d W a y o f B r o o m e C o u n t y
[ T y p e t h e c o m p a n y a d d r e s s ]
[ T y p e t h e p h o n e n u m b e r ]
[ T y p e t h e f a x n u m b e r ]
[ P i c k t h e d a t e ]
Stephanie Cianfriglia,
MSW intern from
Marywood University

2. A Bit of an Introduction
My name is Stephanie Cianfriglia and I am a Master Social Work intern from Marywood
University, in Scranton, PA, although I live in Endicott. I am working under Phil’s supervision
and he assigned me with the task of making United Way of Broome County more multicultural.
The goal was originally to recruit volunteers of various racial/ethnic, socioeconomic statuses,
and gender groups; however, I expanded upon this even further by considering sexual
orientation, genders that lie outside the binary, and people with mental illness or disabilities.
I am a person encapsulating a variety of diverse backgrounds within myself. Although I appear
to be simply a white, middle class woman, as you will see, intersectionality impacts all of us. In
reality, I am: a white, middle class woman who is also demi-pansexual, possessing a history of
both physical disability and mental illness, and someone who practices Buddhism and ascribes to
paganistic and Spiritualistic beliefs.
With this packet and presentation, I plan on introducing to you various foundational theories on
social work, sociology, and social justice. You’re not required to memorize anything—
everyone’s level of multiculturalism is a work in progress, including mine. However, practicing
it both as individuals and as representatives of both Untied Way of Broome County and United
Way at large benefits everyone. Our primary concern is our community, and indeed, it will
benefit that the most.
So, let’s get started with the most obvious question:
Why?

3. Training #1: The Basics/Beginnings
WHY IS THIS NECESSARY?
The foundation of change is trust and rapport in the social
work professional-client relationship. This can be translated to
the macro (community) scale in a non-profit organization by
focusing on multiculturalism. A way to practice
multiculturalism is through cultural competence. This,
however, is usually a skill that is practiced at the individual
level. So how can an organization as a whole begin to practice
cultural competency?
According to Jackson and Holvino (1996), adapting from an
earlier writing by Jackson and Hardiman (1981), the way of
making this possible is by understanding what a multicultural
organization is.
Multiculturalism
"Multiculturalism" is
the co-existence of
diverse cultures, where
culture includesracial,
religious, or cultural
groups and is
manifested in
customary behaviors,
cultural assumptions
and values, patterns of
thinking, and
communicative styles.
Cultural competence
refers to an ability to
interact effectively with
people of different
cultures and socio-
economic
backgrounds,
particularly in the
context of human
resources, non-profit
organizations, and
government agencies
whose employees work
with persons from
different
cultural/ethnic
backgrounds.
A multicultural organization:
• reflects the contributions
and interests of diverse cultural
and social groups in its mission,
operations, and product or service;
• acts on a commitment to
eradicate social oppression in all
forms within the organization;
• includes the members of
diverse cultural and social groups
as full participants, especially in
decisions that shape the
organization; and
• follows through on broader
external social responsibilities,
including support of efforts to
eliminate all forms of social
oppression and to educate others in
multicultural perspectives.

4. As volunteers for the United Way of Broome County, you’re the “troops on the ground,” a
liaison between the organization and the larger community. Although the implementation of a
multiculturalist approach is from top to bottom, for starters, let’s begin with you.
Jackson and Hariman also wrote in 1981 the levels of multiculturalism an organization can
possess. (See Appendix A in your materials.) They range from LEVEL ONE, where essentially
the organization is the equivalent of the “no girl’s allowed” clubhouse you may remember as a
child, to LEVEL SIX, the fully multiculturalist organization. United Way of Broome County
seems to be somewhere in LEVEL TWO, at the cusp of LEVEL THREE.
So how can we help “up the score”? It starts with you.
As you venture out into the community, mention that the United Way is always welcoming of
new volunteers. In particular, it wants volunteers from groups within the community that feel
they are not being listened to well enough. This may include people in poverty, people with
disabilities, people attempting to achieve drug and/or alcohol sobriety, or people of specific
religions or ethnic backgrounds. The idea is not to attract these people for “brownie points,” but
rather to make sure that the marginalized, or those who may be left out, get the chance to speak.
In turn, this encourages their friends and families that they are indeed having their issues
addressed. United Way of Broome County does not endorse the concept of “tokenism” in its
recruitment of volunteers.
Thus, we want to broaden the involvement of various groups in the volunteer force of the United
Way in order to tell our community, we really do care about you, we don’t just say we do.
Also, we as an organization do not endorse the “isms” of society.
to·ken·ism
the practice of making only a perfunctory or symbolic effort to do a
particular thing, especially by recruiting a small number of people from
underrepresented groups in order to give the appearance of sexual or
racial equality within a workforce.

5. The “Isms”
A word that ends in “ism” refers to a practice, system, or philosophy. In this instance, we are
referring to practices, systems, and philosophies that involve prejudice and/or discrimination
against a group of people based upon traits that it cannot control. The most commonly known,
and addressed, “isms” of a multicultural organization are racism and sexism, i.e. prejudice or
discrimination against those of a different race or sex (gender) than us. However, many other
“isms” can and should be part of this goal.
Classism
Prejudice against or in favor of people belonging to a particular social class.
Ableism
Discrimination in favor of able-bodied people (also includes those with mental illnesses or
neurodiversity)
Heterosexism
A system of attitudes, bias, and discrimination in favor of opposite-sex sexuality and
relationships. It can include the presumption that other people are heterosexual or that opposite-
sex attractions and relationships are the only norm and therefore superior.
Cissexism
The assumption that, due to human sexual differentiation, one's gender is determined solely by a
biological sex of male or female, and that trans people are inferior to cis people, being in
"defiance of nature".
Binarism
prejudice against people who are outside the gender/sex binary, or more commonly the stubborn
belief that they don’t actually exist.
Ethnocentrism
Evaluation of other cultures according to preconceptions originating in the standards and
customs of one's own culture.
Eurocentrism
A political term coined in the 1980s, referring to the notion of European exceptionalism, a
worldview centered on Western civilization, as it had developed during the height of the
European colonial empires since the Early Modern period.

6. There are also other forces at work that hold people back in society
White supremacy
The belief that white people are superior to those of all other races, especially the black race, and
should therefore dominate society.
Patriarchy
A system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely
excluded from it.
Heteropatriarchy
Men dominating and de-skilling women in any of a number of forms, from outright attack to
paternalistic care, and women devaluing (of necessity) female bonding. Hetereopatriarchy
normalizes the dominance of one person and the subordination of another.
Heteronormativity
The belief that people fall into distinct and complementary genders (man and woman) with
natural roles in life. It asserts that heterosexuality is the only sexual orientation or only norm, and
states that sexual and marital relations are most (or only) fitting between people of opposite
sexes.
Cisnormativity
The view that all people are cissexual, i.e. have a gender identity that is the same as their
biological sex.
Neuronormativity
The idea that those with autism or related disorders are deficient or undesirable.
Androcentrism
The practice, conscious or otherwise, of placing male human beings or the masculine point of
view at the center of one's view of the world and its culture and history.
Neocolonialism (also Neo-colonialism or Neo-imperialism)
The geopolitical practice of using capitalism, business globalization, and cultural imperialism to
influence a country, in lieu of either direct military control or indirect political control, i.e.
imperialism and hegemony.

7. Gentrification
The process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent
people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents
Homophobia
A dislike of or prejudice against homosexual people.
Transphobia
A range of antagonistic attitudes and feelings against transsexuality and transsexual or
transgender people, based on the expression of their internal gender identity.
xenophobia
An intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries.
Transmisogyny
The confluence of misogyny and transphobia: the negative attitudes, expressed through cultural
hate, individual and state violence, and discrimination directed toward trans women and trans
and gender non-conforming people on the feminine end of the gender spectrum.
(from: http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/01/transmisogyny/)
Macroaggression
A form of cultural destruction committed by an institution or system against another culture. An
example would be the exploitation of poor laborers in undeveloped nations by the clothing
industry.
Ageism
Stereotyping and discriminating against individuals or groups on the basis of their age. This may
be casual or systematic. The term was coined in 1971 by Robert Neil Butler to describe
discrimination against seniors, and patterned on sexism and racism.
INTERSECTIONALITY

8. Now that you know of the numerous ways that people can be held back or disadvantaged, an
important concept to introduce is that of intersectionality.
Intersectionality is just what it sounds like: a place where things meet and cross. In this sense,
you are not just one thing, but a multitude of them. It was an idea first put forth by sociologists
that has recently picked up steam in the fields of social work and in social justice advocacy in
general. It has opened a lot of people’s eyes in terms of the vast
array of tangled-up systems that hold people back from
achieving what they want to in life, as part not just one group,
but several groups that are oppressed by society. Look to the
example in the box. Imagine being not only a racial minority,
but someone who is poor.
The reason we must examine and incorporate this theory into
our work as volunteers for the United Way is simply because it
describes the facts of life in our world today. The people United
Way serves are unfortunately held back by many things, not just
race, gender, or class, to name a few. The most disenfranchised
people in our own community are those who are affected by the
intersections of race, class, and disability (which may include
physical/mental/developmental disabilities, mental illness, a
chronic health condition, and/or an ongoing substance issue). It
would be pointless to try to lift a person out of poverty while
failing to address other factors that could be enabling or
worsening their situation, such as a chronic health condition that
affects their health or a disability that affects their ability to
work. Not only this, but combine those already constricting
factors with being a woman, especially a woman of color, and
we are looking at truly dire circumstances.
Special consideration should also be made if a person is of a
sexual or gender expressive minority. Although society is
improving its attitudes towards LGBTQQIA people, they still
intersectionality
the interconnected nature
of social categorizations
such as race, class, and
gender as they apply to a
given individual or group,
regarded as creating
overlapping and
interdependent systems of
discrimination or
disadvantage.
For example:
Race/class
Someone can be white and
have white privilege, but
are still poor and
oppressed by those of
higher classes of society.
This theory is plays an
important part in modern
feminism. Not only must
oppression by gender be
acknowledged in the
liberation of women, so
must class, race,
physical/mental ability,
sexual orientation, and
gender identity be
acknowledged.

9. encounter hate. Children may be disowned or even victims of violence for being of a different
sexual or gender orientation than their parents. Cisgender lesbian and gays often receive more
protection from legislation than do bisexual/pansexual, transgender, intersex, or asexual
individuals as they have become more readily accepted in society. As such, these individuals are
pushed even further to the margins, and may even be oppressed by members of their own
community. Queer or trans people of color also experience a compounded disadvantage for being
of a different race and sexual or gender orientation; they can be ostracized by both their white
queer or trans community and their heterosexual or cisgender communities of color.
It is worth noting that due to the discrimination many queer or trans people face, they often are
driven out of more mainstream jobs in favor of sex work. Thus, for the safety and quality of life
of these individuals, we as a multiculturalist organization must adopt a pro-sex work stance in
regards to LEGAL and CONSENSUAL sex work. An anti-sex work stance can be summed up as
whorephobic.
You have been given two (2) additional articles in your materials on the importance of
supporting sex workers.
Whorephobia can be defined as the fear or the hate of sex workers.
Sex workers like me would argue that it also embraces paternalistic
attitudes that deem us a public nuisance, spreaders of disease,
offenders against decency or unskilled victims who don't know what is
good for them and who need to be rescued.

10. MATERIALS
Appendix A: The stages of multiculturalism in an organization. (Jackson &
Holvino, 1996)
Appendix B: Peggy McIntosh on white privilege (1989)
Appendix C: Cisgender privilege (based on Peggy McIntosh’s white privilege)
RH Reality Check article: The Evidence Is In: Decriminalizing Sex Work Is
Critical to Public Health (August 13, 2014, Forbes & Elspeth-Patterson)
10 Reasons to Fight for the Decriminalization of Sex Work (Mensah & Bruckert,
2012)
Notes:

11. Training #2: How do I do this stuff?
PRACTICING CULTURAL SENSITIVITY,
INCREASING EMPOWERMENT, & FOSTERING SELF-DETERMINATION
Now that such concepts, terms, and ideas have been introduced, the harder part comes into play:
incorporating them into our thoughts, actions, behaviors, and attitudes. It takes practice,
diligence, and introspection, but it is certainly a worthwhile venture. If we all begin to look at
ourselves in a culturally sensitive way, and begin to act in a culturally sensitive way, then our
organization as a whole can begin to move to a greater sense of multiculturalism.
The concept of tokenism was already mentioned, but let’s re-examine it now. To gain the
community’s trust, we must be mindful as individuals and as a group of the hows and whys.
How do we engage an increasingly diverse community? Why do we choose to recruit from these
diverse groups within our community? These two questions must be asked at several steps as we
go along.
Both as a group and within ourselves, we must ask WHY.
Do we want volunteers of diverse racial/ethnic, socioeconomic status, or sexual/gender minority
groups because we are ALTRUISTIC? Do we want to know or understand their lives and
cultures so we can help them most effectively? Do we want to help them overcome their
struggles (which may have to do with their oppressed status along one or many intersections)?
OR
Do we want to save face? Do we want to feel good about ourselves by “helping” (as in, bossing
around) people who don’t feel like we really care? Do we want “ally cookies”?
The perils of labeling ourselves as “allies” of a group (e.g. saying to transgender women of color,
“We’re your white cis allies”) is that the members of that group see us as being ingenuous.
DO WE CARE? ARE WE GENUINE? OR DO WE WANT COOKIES?

12. The best way we can present ourselves, as representatives of the United Way as a whole, is that
we are not doing this work to better ourselves, but to better our community and its people. To
make sure we stay on track with that, we need to have tools at our disposal.
Self-assessment/self-reflection will help us remind ourselves that we’re in it not for personal
rewards but for helping others out of genuine human compassion and empathy. We are not
recruiting volunteers of diverse backgrounds to have “tokens,” because people are people, not
“points.” We are not engaging diverse groups because we are trying to prove to ourselves that we
are not racist, sexist, cissexist, or any “ist,” we are doing so to help them. And we are not trying
to “save” them, either, because “saving” someone is patronizing. We do not want to treat people
like little kids who cannot help solve their own problems. We, as volunteers for the United Way,
are trying to gather data, shake hands, let people know that when we leave, we will be coming
back. We are not doing this for a temporary project, we are not doing it to congratulate ourselves,
but because WE WANT CHANGE. We want change FOR THE BETTER.
Check your privilege/biases as part of your self-reflection. For example, if you are a white
person, realize that, unfortunately, our society operates in a way that benefits you while taking
rights away from those who are of different races. If you are an able-bodied person, who does
not use a wheelchair, does not suffer from a mental health condition, or who does not have an
Autism Spectrum Disorder, you have an advantage over those who do. If you are a part of the
middle or upper class, you have more power and voice than a person who is poor. By
remembering these, and not acting like they make you better than anyone, you are realizing you
have privilege. Studies have been done that show, by keeping things like this in mind, you will
be a more receptive, genuine, and compassionate person as you work with diverse groups, and
they will sense that and be more willing to work with you. Also, remember to not hold
preconceived ideas or stereotypes in mind about people—this is having biases. Poor people are
not bad people. People who have mental illnesses are not “crazy” or “dangerous.” Someone who
is queer, transgender, or non-binary is not “faking it,” nor are they “not natural” or “perverted,”
they are people who deserve respect and help in their time of need.
Understand the power differential, which is the flip-side of checking your privilege. For every
high, there is a low; for ever person with power (privilege), there is someone else who is

13. oppressed. This is society’s version of getting the short end of the stick. Not saying that the
privileged are born with a silver spoon in their mouths—just they are on a higher ladder rung,
and often standing on the fingers of the person below them. People go through their lives not
even realizing they are doing this. Understanding that you have more power than someone else
isn’t the same as beating yourself up for being a bad person. Rather, it simply means you need to
see yourself through another person’s eyes in order to understand why they may not trust you or
your promises.
Another way of understanding how different groups of people interact along power structures in
society is what Kathryn K. Berg (2013) describes as “pathologizing culture” (pg. 146). If we
look as a different group of people’s issues and say that those issues point to a cultural “disease,”
this is pathologizing a culture, which is unfair. For example, this is usually seen when a person of
Muslim faith commits a violent act. All of a sudden, the religion of Islam fosters violence, and
every person from that terrorist’s country or culture of origin is evil. However, if a person of
Christian background commits an act of terror, we say that “he was just some random crazy
person.” (Timothy McVeigh, the man responsible for the Oklahoma City Bombing, was a devout
Christian; however, his faith was not deemed responsible for his actions.) It can obviously be
seen how unfair this is. It is not something that a multiculturalist organization, someone who has
cultural sensitivity, engages in. It only serves to hurt and alienate people for the wrongful actions
of another.
We do not engage in gaslighting or micro-aggressions (definitions as follows)
**Can occur under any of the “isms” but most commonly associated with race.
Gaslighting or gas-lighting
A form of mental abuse in which false information is presented with
the intent of making victims doubt their own memory, perception, and
sanity.
“Racial microaggressions are brief and commonplace daily verbal,
behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or
unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial
slights and insults towards people of color.”

14. Finally, we as volunteers who represent the United Way must strive to not be victim blaming.
This attitude is usually associated with victims of violence, such as women who have been
abused by their male partners. Victim blaming, however, can be used against people of other
unfortunate circumstances that they have no control over. Another example would be saying that
a poor person does not have a job because they are too lazy to work. This is victim blaming,
because that person may have children that they cannot find someone to care for. It is also
classist, and could also be ableist if that person cannot work due to a physical disability or mental
illness. In social work, we are aware of systems, some of which may be oppressive. It is not the
fault of that person that they do not have a job, but rather the fault of politicians cutting benefits,
employers not giving enough opportunities to certain groups of people, or any number of
reasons. This is where intersectionality also applies: one must always remember that many
different things may be causing a person to have fewer advantages than someone else.
Being mindful of and taking pains to practice these tools will help United Way of Broome
County be more culturally sensitive… AND create social capital.
Social capital means building bridges. It is the idea that change happens through unity and by
letting everyone, especially “the underdog,” have a voice. This relates directly back to “the isms”
and how marginalized groups in our society are pushed to the side, ignored, and even attacked,
all in an effort to silence them. If the bottom is silent, the top can get all of the attention and
resources. That does not align with the United Way’s mission of making sure all people have
good quality of life through education, income, and health. The underdogs of this world deserve
to have their concerns listened to and their needs addressed. We can be the members of society
who defy the isms and treat people like human beings. We can be the means towards their better
lives.
In sociology, social capital is the expected collective or economic
benefits derived from the preferential treatment and cooperation
between individuals and groups.

15. Another important thing that all underdogs need is a sense of empowerment and self-
determination. To be empowered is to feel like you can, indeed, get things done. You are not
powerless when empowered—you have the ability to make things right, to have the life you have
always dreamed for. And when you have self-determination, you do not feel like someone is
trying to tell you what to do. Rather, someone is listening to you and helping get you what you
need in order to help yourself.
REMEMBER: WE TALK TO AND WITH PEOPLE, NOT AT THEM
There’s nothing anyone dislikes more than having someone else talking down to them and telling
them what to do. Recall the “cookies,” or else think of it this way: don’t be a concern troll. (As
in, someone who is not really trying to help, just butting in because they can.) A person of
privilege talking to a disadvantaged person in a patronizing way does not get through to them.
Instead, the person trying to help is shut out, often angrily, perceived as meddling in another’s
affairs rather than seeming sincere.
THIS IS THE ANTITHESIS OF SELF-DETERMINATION.
If you feel the urge to do this, please take a seat.

16. Self-determination is not only about listening, though—it’s also about stepping back. People
need to feel like they are doing things on their own terms. You may think that a person’s idea
might not work. If necessary, tell them kindly and gently. Otherwise, it is not your place, and
doing so would destroy their sense of autonomy. The United Way as a whole evaluates how well
things are going and then examines strengths and weaknesses. This would be the time to raise
concerns or ideas, not in the beginning, as they are just getting off the ground.
All of these things are gobbledygook, however, if we can’t respect the people we’re working
with enough to cooperate with them. As we open our minds, we also open our ears.
Our goal is to not only attract volunteers from diverse groups in order to engage our ever-
diversifying community… it is to retain them.
It’s really as simple as keeping in mind everything above, as well as the basics:
 Be kind
 Be inclusive (paperwork/language)
 Get everyone involved
 Be authentic
 Show gratitude/be thankful
 Be hospitable (food)
 Don’t take offense to rebuffs/don’t push
 Be friendly
 Give recognition and praise
 Two-way communication
 Empower!
And remember to ask the important questions:
 Who am I doing this for? The community? United Way? Myself?
 Am I willing to learn new things? (New beliefs, new perspectives)
 What needs to change?
 Will this person want to volunteer/talk to you as a volunteer? Why or why not?