Assessing cultural competence of policy organizations

Assessment of the capabilities of human service providers to care for individuals from diverse cultures has been widely discussed in the literature. However, a less examined area is the appraisal of the cultural competence of the administrative or policy bodies whose actions shape the character of these human services. This article demonstrates an approach for evaluating a policy organization's cultural competence using a governmental agency as a case study. Findings from this assessment prompted this agency to generate plans to further enhance its cultural competence.