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

• Main Authors: S. Robert Spence Jr (Author), Jacqueline Leung (Author), Shelley Geil (Author), Connie K. Y. Nguyen-Truong (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: JMIR Publications, 2020-12-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 10.31372/20200503.1099; 2373-6658
• Keywords: micronesian islander; community organization; culturally responsive; team building; reflection; early childhood learning; adverse childhood experiences; community-academic partnership; sustainable; Nursing; RT1-120
• Source: Asian/Pacific Island Nursing Journal, Vol 5, Iss 3, Pp 177-180 (2020)

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.