by the Resource Sharing Project.
Rural dual/multi-service advocacy programs that are able to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate services to sexual violence survivors make services for all rural survivors more inclusive and accessible. Multilingual and bicultural advocates are an important part of rural agencies being able to provide these culturally and linguistically appropriate services. A multilingual advocate is someone who can understand and speak more than one language. Often, multilingual advocates are bicultural as well. A bicultural advocate is someone who balances the cultural attitudes and customs of two countries or ethnic groups, usually someone who has moved to the United States from another country or someone whose parents moved to the United States from another country.
Advocacy programs often struggle to find, hire, and retain multilingual and bicultural rural advocates. This is why it is important to understand who these advocates are, where they come from, and how we can create a supportive work environment for them. This paper is intended for rural dual/multi-service agencies looking for suggestions on how they can support multilingual and bicultural rural advocates.
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