The Center for Linguistic and Cultural Competency in Health Care (CLCCHC) is a response to P.L. 101-527, which requires the OMH to develop the capacity of health care professionals to address the cultural and linguistic barriers to health care delivery and increase limited English-speaking individuals' access to health care. The law directs the OMH to support research, demonstrations, and evaluations to test innovative models aimed at increasing knowledge and providing a clearer understanding of health risk factors and successful prevention intervention strategies for minority populations.

Congress encouraged OMH to establish a center to develop and evaluate models, conduct research, and provide technical assistance to providers on removing language barriers to health care services. During FY 1995, OMH established the CLCCHC, a "center without walls," which encompasses all existing and new policy, partnering, communications, service demonstrations, and evaluation activities related to cultural competency.

The mission of CLCCHC is to collaborate with federal agencies and other public and private entities to enhance the ability of the health care system to effectively deliver linguistically appropriate and culturally competent health care to limited English-speaking populations.

Program goals for CLCCHC are to:

• facilitate access and the exchange of information on literature, research, and programs for removing language and cultural barriers to health care for limited English-speaking populations;
• promote research and other initiatives through collaboration with Federal agencies, public health agencies, managed care entities, institutions of higher education and community-based organizations on removing language and cultural barriers to health care for limited English-speaking populations;
• develop demonstration projects aimed at removing language and cultural barriers to health care for limited English-speaking populations;
• conduct evaluations on the demonstration projects undertaken, determine their feasibility for replication, and the transferring of this technology to targeted audiences; and
• provide technical assistance to providers of health care to enhance their ability to deliver linguistically appropriate and competent health care to diverse minority populations.