Introduction

The Center for Cultural Fluency provides K-12 teachers with classroom resources and professional development opportunities about issues of cultural diversity. The Center's lending library resources support teacher and student exploration of the diverse communities of Los Angeles. The continually expanding collection includes fiction and nonfiction books, videos, audiotapes, visual aids, and software depicting the experiences of cultural groups that have historically been underrepresented or misrepresented in mainstream curriculum. The Center website makes this rich collection of classroom resources available to educators across the nation. Under Instructional Resources, teachers can search for materials on a specific theme by grade level and cultural group. Places to purchase these resources are listed under Vendors. Watch for a review each month of an outstanding new classroom resource for cultural discovery on the What's New page.

The Center for Cultural Fluency promotes the professional development of educators by sponsoring conferences and forums for teachers that provide opportunities for dialogue about issues of diversity. Watch the Center's homepage for announcements of these events. Educators can design their own professional development activities by consulting the Professional Development page. References on this page include texts, journals, and websites that define the principles of multicultural education and provide guidelines for the development of multicultural curricula and inclusive educational practices. Also on the Professional Development page are references that provide an introduction to specific cultures through the literature and history of those cultures.

Educators in Los Angeles will want to consult the Los Angeles Connections page where they will find information about the city's many cultural communities. The history and current issues of each community and annotated lists of cultural centers are provided. The Center staff have mapped out half-day "journeys" that will introduce neighborhoods rich in the traditions of each cultural community.

Website Development

The content of the Center for Cultural Fluency Website has been developed by Anne Wilcoxen and Debbie Giunta, codirectors of The Center for Cultural Fluency.

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