About CHUM

WE’RE BRINGING THE COMMUNITY HERE 

The Center for Cultural Humility (CHUM) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit entity based at the University of California Berkeley. Launched in 2021, CHUM aimed to become an artistic, evidence-based platform and strategic collaborator in trainings and programming for the development of culturally responsive practice, research, and policy. Recognizing the vital role that evidence-based science can play in addressing social, economic, and health issues across the world, CHUM seeks to break down silos between the private and public sectors and the general public, by facilitating engagements that illuminate, amplify, and leverage the strengths and skills that are present in every community.

The mission of CHUM is twofold: First, using our backgrounds as researchers, practitioners, and visual artists, we seek to create deeply interactive, evidence-based trainings that provide opportunities for a wide array of individuals to learn the fundamentals of culturally humble mentalities and actions. Second, we aim to provide individuals with the impetus and tactical resources to be purposefully and ethically engaged with those who are not like them, inside and outside of their professional work.

Our core tenets are cultural responsiveness and cultural humility, two paradigms that are deeply intertwined. Policies and programs that advocate for and address the needs of those that they aim to serve, in consideration of that population’s cultural experiences and needs, are culturally responsive. Cultural humility, in turn, is the quality of being thoughtful, measured, and dynamic in engaging people from cultures different from one’s own–whether that be in terms of race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, gender expression, religion, etc. To be responsive to the needs of diverse populations, one must be open to understanding and processing differences in experiences and values across cultural groups and be engaged in how these experiences and values come to be. This PDF provides more info about CHUM!

WHAT WE OFFER

CHUM offers multiple types of programming, including immersive, visual arts-infused trainings, community-building spaces, and consultation services. Our services are imbued with principles of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR), which emphasizes the purposeful and deep engagement of communities in practice development processes. We have multifaceted, evidence-based trainings for: Cultural Humility, Anti-Racism, Trauma-Informed Care, Restorative Justice, Community-Based Participatory Research Training, and Citizen Science. We also provide “Train The Trainer” supplements for all of our trainings. All of our programs are curated and led by individuals who have done extensive community-based research and program implementation. Moreover, in keeping with CBPR principles, our trainings and services are designed in meaningful collaboration with our local communities. As part of our community events, we invite speakers who are advocates and/or practitioners of culturally responsive engagement to speak about their work and articulate pathways for action on equity matters. In keeping with the vision of CPBR, we heavily involve communities in the process of curating these events.

Our in-person trainings and events take place around the world.

OUR TEAM

CHUM is guided by a rotating mix of permanent and project-specific staff, including culturally responsive trainers and outreach specialists with deep experience in community-based practice and research, with disciplinary influences from the fields of public health, social work, medicine, clinical psychology, public policy, and sociology. Our core programming team is based at the University of California Berkeley.

Jerel Ezell, PhD, MPH

CHUM Director/Lead Trainer +

Assistant Professor | Community Health Sciences, University of California Berkeley

Email: jezell@berkeley.edu