46: Tailoring a Community Conversation to Meet the Cultural Norms of Marshallese, Micronesian and Other Pacific Islander Populations

This gathering will showcase processes originally used to develop a culturally-appropriate community conversation and will draw on the facilitator's experience as a Marshallese evaluator working with the Marshallese population in Northwest Arkansas. It will explore ideas or questions the facilitator will use as discussion points for evaluators working with or interested in Marshallese, Micronesian, and other Pacific Islander communities. The gathering will aim to help evaluators better understand people and cultures that are not always familiar or highlighted in the mainstream. Participants will describe their experiences working in projects that included Marshallese, Micronesians, and other Pacific Islanders. Participants will also be encouraged to share how evaluation empowers these communities to tell their stories, so their needs are well-expressed in the development of culturally-responsive initiatives. The gathering will address barriers, facilitators, resources, checklists or tools, and other dialogue/rhetoric/questions that interested evaluators can adopt and adapt for use in their own communities.