Community Competence

Recently, there has been a shift in language from "cultural competence" to "cultural and community competence" or simply "community competence". At first glance, cultural and community competence seem very similar. In "Overcoming the Challenges of Eliminating Disparities in Tobacco Use," which appeared in the Fall 2002 issue of Chronic Disease Notes & Reports, Robert G. Robinson, DrPH, former Associate Director for Program Development for the Office on Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, states that to move toward community competency, we must take into account the experiences and circumstances-history, culture, context, geography-that shape a community. Dr. Robinson notes that "community competency is not a specific amount of history, culture, context, or geography...community Competence also includes other criteria: salient imagery, positive imagery, appropriate language and literacy levels, mutigenerational perspectives, and diversity." Therefore, as stated in his paper, "Tobacco Prevention and Control: Overview of a Model to Eliminate Population Disparities for Communities, Race/Ethnic Groups, Low SES, and Other Population Groups" (May 2001), community competence is "derived from cultural competence but intended to better reflect the underlying complexity of communities and race/ethnic groups."