One of the keys to unlocking cultural competence is reading diverse books with characters and locations that represent a variety of cultures. In this activity, young people define and discuss the value of representation. They do an audit of a book collection to identify representation and gaps. As a goal, they seek to fill gaps in representation by adding books to the collection.

Looking around the room, we may see many skin colors and tones. These differences occur all over the world. In this lesson we use the terminology of race and ethnicity and look at data to identify the makeup of our community or state. Young people may take action to promote representation of the groups that are under-represented in the community.

The key to cultural competence is learning about cultures around the world. The book Children Like Me sparks curiosity about different cultures. Youth make a simple keychain to represent the different cultures they can learn about with the key that helps them open doors.  

Ignite meaningful action that lights up the world through "Service Sparks" youth projects! Do you have a culturally diverse library? Use a spreadsheet to analyze and discuss the cultural representation of a library's collection. Look for gaps and make a proposal to grow the diversity of the books and challenge yourself and others to learn about people and the world from different perspectives. 

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