The community cultural wealth model illustrates the array of knowledge, skills, abilities, and contacts possessed and utilized by diverse communities to resist macro and micro-forms of oppression (Yosso, 2005, p.77). The model demonstrates that there are at least 6 forms of cultural capital such as aspirational, navigational, social, linguistic, familial, and resistant capital that represent diverse communities' accumulated assets and resources.

 

Career services professionals can use the six types of cultural wealth included in Yosso’s theoretical approach to both frame their interactions with students and empower students in their personal and career development. The community cultural wealth model represents a framework to understand how diverse students access and experience college from a strengths-based perspective. It is designed to capture the talents, strengths, and experiences that diverse students bring with them to not only the college environment but also in professional settings. Below is a summary of each form of capital along with questions career services professionals should consider in determining how they can promote each specific type of cultural capital in personal and career development facilitation.

 

6 Forms of Cultural Capital of Diverse Communities

Definitions and questions were derived from Angela Locks' summary

 

Aspirational capital is defined by Yosso as the “hopes and dreams” students have. She explains that African American and Latina/o students and their families continue to have high educational aspirations despite persistent education inequities.

Questions career services professionals should consider:

1. How are we supporting the maintenance and growth of students’ aspirations?

2. What assumptions do we have about students’ aspirations?

 

Linguistic capital refers to the various language and communication skills students bring with them to their college environment. Yosso further defines this form of capital by discussing the role of storytelling, particularly for students of color. She argues that because storytelling is a part of students’ lives before they arrive on college campuses, they bring with them “skills [that] may include memorization, attention to detail, dramatic pauses, comedic timing, facial affect, vocal tone, volume, rhythm and rhyme.” (p. 79). These are all skills that career services professionals can use as a solid foundation for professional success.

Questions to consider:

1. How are we supporting the language and communication strengths of our students?

2. To what degree do we utilize inclusive counseling and advising practices?

 

Familial capital refers to the social and personal human resources students have in their precollege environment, drawn from their extended familial and community networks. Yosso explains that students’ pre-college experiences within a communal environment come with knowledge that campuses can help students leverage into positive experiences in college.

Questions to consider:

1. How do we recognize and help students draw on wisdom, values, and stories from their home communities in resume building and job interviews?

2. How do we create environments that honor and invite families to participate?

 

Social capital is a form of capital that Yosso defines as students’ “peers and other social contacts” and emphasizes how students utilize these contacts to gain access to college and navigate other social institutions.

Questions to consider:

1. How do we help students stay connected to the communities and individuals instrumental in their previous educational and/or professional success?

2. How do we engage with likely individuals and community-based organizations about the types of supports successful students need?

 

Navigational capital refers to students’ skills and abilities to navigate “social institutions” including educational and professional spaces. Yosso further explains that students’ navigational capital empowers them to maneuver within unsupportive or hostile environments.

Questions to consider:

1. How do we help students navigate our institutions and future employment settings?

2. How willing are we to acknowledge that the structures and cultures of both our institutions and future employment settings, have a history of, and may still in many ways be unsupportive and/or hostile to students and their communities?

 

Resistance capital has its foundations in the experiences of communities of color in securing equal rights and collective freedom. According to Yosso, the sources of this form of capital come from parents, community members and a historical legacy of engaging in social justice. This historical legacy of resistance leaves students of color particularly well-positioned to leverage their higher education training to enter society prepared to solve challenging problems regarding equitable health, educational and other social outcomes.

Questions to consider are:

1. How do we support students who are committed to engaging in and serving their home communities (however they define these)?

2. What opportunities do we provide students to prepare them for participation in a diverse democracy?