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Capacity Building and Cultural Competence When Working with Minority Populations

About the Presenters

Fabricio E. Balcazar, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Disability and Human Development, College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Balcazar has conducted research over the past 25 years on the development of systematic approaches for promoting the empowerment of minorities and under-served populations, including Latinos with disabilities and their families. His research has included the development and evaluation of approaches for promoting empowerment approaches to vocational rehabilitation service delivery, school-to-work transition, dropout prevention, the promotion of the ADA in Latino neighborhoods, and career development leading to employment opportunities for minority youth with disabilities. Dr. Balcazar is the director of the NIDRR-funded Center for Capacity Building on Minorities with Disabilities Research and has been actively engaged in the development and dissemination of cultural competence trainings for researchers and service providers. Dr. Balcazar is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.

Dr. Yolanda Suárez is a Professor and Head of the Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research interest and expertise include the study of participatory and empowerment evaluation of community health initiatives, university-community partnerships, participatory needs assessment methodologies with people with disabilities and issues of multicultural training and diversity. She is the Co-Director of the Center for Capacity Building on Minorities with Disabilities Research and coordinates the capacity building component, working with agencies to develop effective participatory strategies to assess the impact of their services on consumers with disabilities. She and her colleagues at the University of Kansas developed a needs assessment methodology, using a participatory action research approach, to identify the community needs of individuals with disabilities called the Concerns Report Method. This methodology has been used as a tool for action and replicated with multiple diverse populations, particularly people with disabilities and marginalized populations. Dr. Suárez is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.