The Cultural Competency Committee (CCC) serves as an advisory group for the infusion of cultural competency in all of Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) operations. The CCC membership includes the cultural perspectives of consumers, family members, advocates, Directly Operated (DO) providers, Contracted providers, and community-based organizations. Additionally, the CCC considers the expertise from the Service Areas’ clinical and administrative programs, front line staff, and management essential for sustaining the mission of the Committee. The CCC is led by two Co-Chairs who are community representatives and elected annually by members of the Committee.CCC Mission Statement
“Increase cultural awareness, sensitivity, and responsiveness in the County of Los Angeles Department of Mental Health’s response to the needs of diverse cultural populations to foster hope, wellness, resilience, and recovery in our communities.”
CCC Advocacy
The committee embraces all elements of culture and advocates for equity and inclusion of all cultural groups inclusive of, but not limited to:
– Age
– Country of origin, degree of acculturation, generation
– Educational level
– Family and household composition
– Gender identity and sexual orientation
– Health practices, including the use of traditional healers
– Language
– Perceptions of health and well being
– Physical abilities or disabilities; cognitive ability or disabilities
– Political beliefs
– Racial and ethnic groups
– Religious and spiritual characteristics
– Socio-economic status
Source: National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in Health and Health Care: A blueprint for Advancing and Sustaining CLAS policy and Practice, April 2013
CCC Membership
The CCC membership consists of representatives from different cultural and linguistic groups, different roles, and walks of life including consumers, family members, caregivers, community members, advocates, peers, and LACDMH stakeholder groups. Among them are the Underserved Cultural Communities subcommittees (UsCC), Service Area Leadership Teams (SALT), consumer-run organizations, community-based organizations, State and local advocacy agencies, mental health providers, and Los Angeles County sister Health Departments. The functions of the LACDMH-affiliated members include volunteers, peers, management, and staff from administrative and clinical programs. The richness of the CCC’s diversity can be easily appreciated across multiple elements of culture including race and ethnicity, linguistic capability, gender identity, gender pronouns, sexual orientation, physical and cognitive abilities and disabilities, and a wide variety of agency and community-based organization affiliations.
For Calendar Year (CY) 2023, the CCC membership reached 81 members. Below is a summary of the collective cultural and linguistic committee demographics based on information of members who agreed to participate.
Race and Ethnicity
CCC members self-reported and described their racial/ethnic identity exactly as stated below:
– African
– African American
– American Indian/Alaska Native
– Asian
– Black
– Filipino
– Hispanic
– Indígena (indigenous) Latina
– Irish-German
– Japanese
– Jewish
– Korean
– Latino(a)
– Latino Chinese
– Mexican American
– Persian
– Spaniard/Latino/American Indian
– Spanish
– White
Language
The linguistic diversity of the CCC for CY 2023 consisted of the following fourteen (14) languages:
– ASL
– Armenian
– English
– German
– Farsi
– Hebrew
– Ibo
– Korean
– Japanese
– Mayan
– Portuguese
– Spanish
– Swahili
– Tagalog
Gender Identity
Out of 81 active members, 20 of them reported being male and 61 female. All participating members self-described as cisgender.
Gender pronouns endorsed by the membership
– He/him/his
– Her/hers/they
– Queer
– She/her/hers
– They/them
– They/we
– We/us
Sexual Orientation
The committee’s diversity in terms of self-reported sexual orientations included heterosexual, lesbian, and gay.