This book is the first part of a two-volume collection devoted to issues facing racial and ethnic minority families. These chapters grew out of a conference at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, which focused on the strengths and resources of minority families. They represent an effort to share knowledge that can be used for the design of ethnically and culturally sensitive family services. The three chapters in Part I, "Overview and Theory," address theoretical issues and issues related to multiple ethnic groups. The introductory chapter gives an overview of theoretical developments on the Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment, and Adaptation. Authors of these chapters apply a resiliency framework to explorations of educational outcomes for students of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Part II, "Native Americans," focuses on resiliency issues faced by Native Hawaiians and Native American Indians in seven chapters. In each case, the relationships of cultural, political, and situational factors and the resilient adaptation of families are explored in the context of the group's cultural heritage. Part III, "Immigrant Americans," contains 11 chapters that investigate the resilient factors specific to racial and ethnic immigrant families. This part is divided into sections on Asian Americans and Latino/Hispanic Americans. Among the themes explored are intergenerational support and the transmission of cultural heritage. Other chapters apply a resiliency perspective to discussions of caregiving, coping, and the availability of community and social support services. Each chapter contains references. (Contains 36 tables and 17 figures.) (SLD)