The Georgia Training Institute is operated by Sheltering Arms, metro Atlanta's oldest nonprofit child care provider and one of its most respected.  The mission of Sheltering Arms is to serve working families with high quality, affordable child care and education and comprehensive support services, as well as to provide professional development for early childhood educators and community outreach. The Georgia Training Institute, founded in 1988, provides a range of ongoing professional development courses for early education and family support professionals.

The Cornell University Empowering Families Project has selected Sheltering Arms Early Education & Family Centers as the statewide coordinator for the national Family Development Training and Credentialing program in Georgia.  The centerpiece of the program is the Empowerment Skills for Family Workers course, the most comprehensive, strength-based family development training available for frontline workers, empowering them to work with skill and heart. Cornell University research has documented that, by earning the FDC, front-line family support workers develop more effective skills in helping families, while at the same time reducing stress and promoting well being in their own lives.

Although the Family Development Credential benefits professionals and organizations, families are the most important beneficiaries of this project, and, by extension, their communities. The FDC helps family support workers to assess the needs and strengths of families and to assist families in setting and achieving goals that foster self-reliance.  With its interagency nature, the FDC can transform the way organizations work with families by fostering collaboration, reducing duplication, and providing a way to streamline training.   

The Empowerment Skills for Leaders course, which trains supervisory and management staff on the FDC principles, provides leaders with skills to facilitate the work of frontline FDC-trained workers and creates policies and an operating environment supportive of a strength-based approach to helping families. 

Source of official student records: Vice-President of Family Development, Sheltering Arms Georgia Training Institute, 385 Centennial Olympic Park Drive, Atlanta, Georgia 30313.

Titles of all evaluated learning experiences

Empowerment Skills for Family Workers, Family Development Training and Credentialing (FDC)
Empowerment Skills for Leaders

Descriptions and credit recommendations

Empowerment Skills for Family Workers, Family Development Training and Credentialing (FDC)
Location: Various approved facilities throughout Georgia.
Length: 90 hours over nine months (45 hours didactic; 45 hours preparing for and supporting the supervised field experience); in addition, a minimum of 100 hours of supervised competency-based field experience.
Dates: August 2004 - Present.
Objectives: The Empowerment Skills for Family Workers program is an integrated learning experience, involving both a classroom and field service component. Many of the following learning objectives apply to both the classroom instruction and the field service component; however, they are listed under separate sections to better illustrate how the skills and knowledge acquired in Part 1 are applied in Part 2. Part 1, classroom instruction: Explain the core principles underlying the empowerment and family support approach to family development, as opposed to the deficit approach; name major roles played by family development workers; explain ways family systems influence family members; identify a personal vision for work, which can serve as a source of motivation and direction for setting goals; set goals for oneself, yearly, monthly, weekly and daily, to help one focus on what is most important; identify sources of stress in one’s life and design a personal stress management and wellness program; build mutually respectful relationships with families; begin positive relationships with families, build those relationships, and end the relationships in ways that avoid dependency yet support families’ future development; develop sensitivity to families; communicate effectively with families, co-workers, and people from other agencies or community organizations (e.g., listening, I messages); use verbal and non-verbal communication effectively (handling conflict, confronting people); explain what cultural competence is, why it is vital for family workers, and ways in which it is a life-long process; become aware of and sensitive to cultural competency and diversity; give examples of various kinds of oppression and how they can be internalized, creating barriers to growth and change within individuals and groups; discuss and apply seven basic principles of empowerment-based assessment in working with families; discuss an example of a culturally appropriate assessment; discuss why specialized services are often needed to help families reach their goals for healthy self-reliance; discuss what services are available in the local area and how to find and access these services; discuss the purpose of support and advocacy groups in order to encourage families to participate; become familiar with group process (advocacy, support, family groups); discuss the role of support in family work and set up and facilitate meetings; discuss the differences among coordination, cooperation, and collaboration, and choose the most appropriate method for each situation that requires working together with others. Part 2, Field Service Component: Work the family support approach into ongoing programs; assist families in reflecting on factors that have contributed to their current situation, while still focusing on present and future goals; develop a plan for working on a strengths basis with supervisors, based on an understanding of personal goals and needs and those of supervisors, sharing information, and lending support; adjust verbal and non-verbal communication, given the cultural backgrounds of families one is working with; use ongoing assessment to promote family self-reliance; conduct assessments focused on the family’s current situation and future goals with appropriate confidentiality; treat family information with respect for the family’s confidentiality; establish rapport and mutually respectful relationships with families in the families’ homes; use the Empowerment Skills for Family Workers plan to focus home visits on the family’s goals, and avoid over-dependence; develop a resource guide to local services at the local and state level; support families as they use specialized services, making sure the services support the family’s self-reliance goals; work skillfully with families who have many complex problems; help families identify and strengthen their informal helping networks; help families facilitate their own family conferences; set up and facilitate meetings; collaborate effectively with individuals, including families and other workers; collaborate effectively with other agencies; help families provide their own case management. NOTE: The classroom component concludes with a written examination. The field service component concludes with the student’s submission of a portfolio of competency-based activities and exercises to be used in assessing the student’s grasp of the skills and competencies required to receive the credential.
Instruction: Empowerment Skills for Family Workers is intended to help redirect the way health, education, and human services are delivered to families. This redirection is moving systems away from crisis-oriented and fragmented services toward an empowerment and family support-based approach, emphasizing prevention, interagency collaboration, and a greater role for families in determining services. The Empowerment Skills for Family Workers  is an integrated learning experience, involving both a classroom and field service component, the latter under the mentorship of an Empowerment skills for Family Workers advisor. Topics covered include: family development: a sustainable route to healthy self-reliance; worker self-empowerment; building mutually respectful relationships with families; communication; cultural competence; ongoing assessment; home visiting; helping families access specialized services; facilitating family conferences, support groups, and community meetings; collaboration.
Credit recommendation: Part 1 only: In the lower division baccalaureate/associate degree category, 3 semester hours (didactic) in Child and Family Development, Human Services, Human Sciences, Social Sciences, Social Work, or related disciplines. Part 1 and 2: In the lower division baccalaureate/associate degree category, 7 semester hours (3 didactic and 4 field service) in Child and Family Development, Human Services, Human Sciences, Social Sciences, Social Work, or related disciplines (7/05). NOTE: The Family Development Credential is awarded only to those who complete Parts 1 and 2. NOTE: For purposes of using this learning experience for Continuing Education Units (CEUs) and using the generally accepted standard of 10 contact hours for every CEU, this learning experience computes to 9 CEUs.

Empowerment Skills for Leaders
Location: Various locations throughout the Atlanta, Georgia area.
Length: 40 hours (10 weeks); includes 10 hours of workplace implementation.
Dates:  (Credit recommendation pending.)*
Objectives: Discuss the core concepts and competencies used by family workers training in the Empowerment Skills for Family Workers program; identify one’s own leadership style and vision for transforming one’s organization through the principles of empowerment-based leadership; apply techniques to reduce stress and increase feelings of self-empowerment in one’s daily activities; use empowerment-based communication techniques to build mutually respectful relationships with families, staff, co-leaders, and others; employ skills in strength-based assessment that balance empowerment-based support with accountability for outcomes; participate in community-based professional development programs focused on the principles of empowerment-based leadership and family development.
Instruction: This course provides professional development for frontline supervisors and other leaders in using empowerment-based leadership in their agencies. Instruction focuses on ways to build organizational capacities in areas of empowerment-based supervision, interagency collaboration, strengths-based assessment, multicultural competence, and personal self-empowerment. Course participants complete assignments and a final project, which emphasize the principles and practices of an empowerment-based approach to leading an empowered workplace, developing multicultural competence in interagency collaborations, transforming the workplace, supervising from a strengths-based perspective, and reflecting on personal self-empowerment.
Credit recommendation: (Credit Recommendation Pending.)*  In the upper division baccalaureate degree category, 2 semester hours in Human Services, Human Resource Management, Management, Social Work, Sociology, Psychology, Leadership, or Public Administration (7/05). *NOTE: The credit recommendation is expected to be in effect following the full administration of this course and a subsequent re-confirmation review by National PONSI.  Results will be posted when final.

Updated 11/9/06

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