EP 68: Welcoming Diversity in your School and After School Program

This episode of the Making Afterschool Cool podcast focuses on why educators and youth leaders should welcome diversity in their schools and programs. Several studies and articles indicate that Houston is the most diverse city in the nation. As a result of the city’s changing demographics, the level of diversity on school campuses continues to rise. To discuss this issue is guest, Dr. Stephen Cherry.

During this podcast you will learn:

• How Houstonian will influence the rest of the country through its approach to diversity
• Why it is crucial for school and afterschool staff to recognize the diversity of youth in schools
• What the difference between cultural competency and stereotyping is and why people working with youth should be aware of the distinctions
• How cultural variation and individual variation make a person unique

Guest

Dr. Cherry is an associate professor and program director of sociology at the University of Houston Clear Lake. His research interests include immigration, religion, Asian Americans, and civic life. He is the author of Faith, Family, and Filipino American Community Life and the co-editor of Religious Movements Across Borders. In 2006 he received the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Distinguished Article Award. Additionally, he's served as a faculty fellow at the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University.

Resources

^{Dr. Stephen Cherry, University of Houton}

^{‎Cherry@UHCL.edu}

^{Harris County Department of Education}

^{https://hcde-texas.org}

^{CASE for Kids}

^{https://hcde-texas.org/afterschool-zone}