Gaining Entrée into a Micronesian Islander-Based Community Organization Through Culturally Responsive Team Building and Reflection

Abstract

Building trust and rapport is crucial in developing sustainable relationships with communities of color who have suffered historical trauma (Nguyen- Truong, Closner, & Fritz, 2019; 1Nguyen-Truong, 1Leung, & Micky, 2020a). A history of nuclear weapons testing by the United States in Micronesia, and subsequent ill-prepared cleanup efforts, has created a historical trauma for the Micronesian Islander community (Letman, 2013). The purpose of this brief article is to describe a critical foundational engagement project approach when gaining entrée into a Micronesian Islander community-based organization to co-develop the culturally relevant main project to improve rates of Micronesian Islander enrollment in early childhood learning (ECL) programs. Building a sustainable community-academic partnership through culturally responsive team (CRT) building and leveraging the collective strengths, to address a community need, took half a year for relationship building, and shared decision-making.

Keywords

• micronesian islander
• community organization
• culturally responsive
• team building
• reflection
• early childhood learning
• adverse childhood experiences
• community-academic partnership
• sustainable