Carver’s Cultural Competency

Carver uses the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of our ethnically diverse students to make learning more relevant and effective for them. Carver is sensitive to linguistic, cultural barriers and takes steps to help interaction among Carver families. Carver hosts team-building events and activities promoted in different languages and facilitated by a diverse staff. 

Carver ensures that all students make real-world connections to the activities they participate in, regardless of their cultural background. We look for teachable moments to discuss the role of culture and ways in which cultural differences may be bridged in certain situations. When selecting skill-building activities, we keep in mind that there may be cultural differences in valued skills.

Programming includes Carver’s Diverse Book Club that provides participants with a free book written by a writer of color and hosts a book discussion on the text, author, and ways the material fits into the lives of the Carver students.

In Chat ‘n Chew, Carver students share meals with local professionals chosen for their cultural diversity experiences and/or sensitivities while learning about various industries where these professionals work. In a more intimate setting than Carver’s Career Fairs, students have a more personal experience and can ask questions of expert guests while building their personal networks. 

Youth voice has long been a critical component of Carver’s programs. Carver youth have opportunities to make choices in line with their own backgrounds, norms, and viewpoints in our effort to foster cultural responsiveness.

Our cultural History

Founded by African American community leaders in 1938, named after George Washington Carver, Carver has always been led by an African American. Novelette Peterkin, CEO, has led Carver since 2004.

Until approximately 2010, Carver operated only out of its community center. The location of the community center has changed through the years; the current community center was built in the mid-1970s.

Many people know Carver by its original identity as being primarily focused on Norwalk’s Black youth. Since Carver began to expand its after-school and summer programs citywide, our student population is now more than 57% Hispanic, 25% Black, and 14% White.

The Norwalk Historical Society Museum produced an exhibition in 2017 that featured Carver’s role in “The Second Migration” (1940-1970) when five million black Americans from southern states traveled north to the urban industrial centers, including and especially to Norwalk. This mass exodus was spurred by civil, economic, and educational injustices.