With whom should Carla discuss her concerns that Maria was a victim of discrimination?

Question

Carla Hudson, a Black social worker with the Women’s Resource Center (WRC), had worked with Maria Velasquez, a Mexican immigrant and mother of two children, for several years as she struggled to escape a violent home situation. Maria was Carla’s first Spanish-speaking client. Maria’s spoken English was easily understandable, but she could not read or write English well. As Carla assisted Maria in acquiring mainstream services, including Head Start, TANF, Food Stamps, and WIC, she noticed barriers to services that she began to suspect were related to discrimination against Spanish-speaking clients. When two White Head Start caseworkers refused to help Maria attain educational support that she needed in order to gain English literacy, Carla faced the challenge of addressing discrimination issues in another agency and perhaps throughout the service delivery system in Jasper, Alabama.

Answer 1

Carla should have a conversation with the Head Start workers first about her specific concerns of discrimination. She also should have a discussion with her supervisor about this. Her supervisor and the agency that employs her need to be supportive of any efforts she might make to address this problem. Efforts to combat systemic bias generally require support from a broad spectrum of the community. Although it is important work, it takes considerable time and energy. Since the influx of immigrants has created extra challenges for all service providers, many of whom are already stretched to capacity with large caseloads, Carla and the WRC can seize the opportunity to be community leaders by bringing service providers together to discuss the situation. This approach would avoid a confrontation with one particular agency and its workers and yet address the problem in a direct manner. The Latino legal advocacy group in Montgomery could be a helpful resource as the community of Jasper seeks to provide high-quality services.
If Carla decided to advocate more aggressively for Spanish-speaking clients in Jasper, she could use all the skills associated with community organizing, including empowerment of clients such as Maria, community needs assessment, networking, coalition-building, and so on.