This paper discusses how the organizational cultural competency of social service agencies may be improved by shifting the philosophy of service delivery from a client-centered to a community-based orientation. This analysis is based on two years of fieldwork and interviews that were conducted as part of an action research project initially developed to increase the number of certified Spanish speaking Latino family childcare providers and knowledge about Latino immigrant families in the Midwest. In developing a culturally-specific certification program in Spanish, both the Latino participants and the bilingual program director challenged the agency to consider how the social context and social location of its participants required a more holistic community approach. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2006.

Culturally specific Parent education Culturally adapted Organizational cultural competency Latino immigrants Child care

education Parents perception human Adaptation, Psychological organization Social Work Hispanic Americans program development United States Humans Hispanic parent cognition adaptive behavior Article organization and management Organizational Culture migration Emigration and Immigration Social Perception Community-Institutional Relations public relations child care Child