Being Held To Higher Standards: International Conference Specialty Training Programs

Special Credential - Certificate - Curriculum Academies Information Here

Being Held To Higher Standards
Health, Psychology, Social Work, Early Childhood, Head Start, Educators, Family Studies, Professional Development, Credentialing

Dr. James C. Rodriguez, MSW
President and Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Narviar Barker Browne, Ph.D., MSW, LCCP, LSW,
Lecturer at Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia
Director of Standards and Program Outcomes
Fathers and Families Coalition of America

1 December  2023

STRIVING FOR EXCELLENCE WHILE VALUING THE STRENGTH OF IMPERFECTION 

I am thrilled that our 25th International Families and Fathers Conference will feature five amazing credential and curriculum programs in April. The commitment for over twenty-five years to offering the best professional development has a genesis within the Head Start profession and my profession as a Social Worker. I believe it is important when colleagues sign up for any of our programs or collaborating partnership, we build our trainings on experience, evidence-based interventions, frameworks, and more. As President and CEO of the Fathers and Families Coalition of America, I remember my journey to this point. In August 1993, I prioritized being a dad over a soldier, and I left active duty status in the military, transitioning to reserve status. I retired in 2003. However, the decision led me to a position at a Head Start agency, where I was expected to oversee the then-social services for thousands of people across two counties. Throughout this experience, I was driven to develop programs, grants, and opportunities to foster professional growth. It also inspired me to pursue academic and professional advancement to provide the same level of professional development to family service staff and home-based educators as the education staff.

Collaboration is Key to Success

When vision becomes envisioned, anything is possible. The vision to create a credential program, Family Preservation Credential (FPC), was mirrored by the Child Development Accreditation for Head Start teaching staff as a first step toward higher education. I learned the power, impact, and influences of collaboration and the difference between collaboration and cooperative relationships. Even when people doubted creating this FPC, the partnership with Arizona State University and Central Arizona College established standards for this program to matriculate into an associate degree and be accepted in the bachelor's degree in social work (BSW) or a master's degree in social work (MSW) from a CSWE-accredited program (or one that meets equivalent standards) to practice as a professional using best practices and evidence-based strategies. The early experiences were exceptional because we had staff learn from professors from the School of Social Work to teach in the community. Not being content, I sought to improve the training continuously; it was never enough, always enough, or more than enough. We should continuously improve our training programs and base them on evidence-based strategies. 

Thirty years ago, technology had a very limited impact on our daily lives compared to the robust tech world we live in today. The Fathers and Families Coalition of America (FFCA) has significantly improved its training programs over the years. Unlike many other organizations, FFCA is committed to offering more than just certificate or credential programs. Our Advanced Practitioner Credential (APC) was developed from the Family Preservation Credential (FPC), and we adopted an innovative modular approach that allowed content experts to design the APC. Our modular curriculum design is flexible, yet maintains high professional development standards. The faculty who designed our programs based it on the learning competencies of the Council of Social Work Education Accreditation. Our programs meet rigorous learning outcomes and standards based on CSWE as just one call to higher standards. Completing our programs ensures that professionals have the core competencies and corresponding practice behaviors required to challenge to be the best professionals regardless if they are founded as Fatherhood Practitioners, Early Childhood Education, Head Start Family Services, Social Work, Psychology, Criminal Justice, and many others. Our programs provide coherent and engaging learning experiences that can adapt to our attendees and faculty's different contexts, needs, and preferences.

Why Fathers and Families Coalition of America Institutes Curriculum Standards 

Fathers and Families Coalition of America institutes high standards in all its curricula training. Our education and training programs are grounded in research, practice, and standards-based, evidenced-based education. This is important because standards serve as a basis to measure success in terms of outcomes and play an important role in improving learning through accountability and confidence in delivery. The auditing of FFCAs standards for curriculum-based programs ensures that our work is high quality and based on firm evidence and ethical standards. Lastly, our educational standards set clear and measurable goals, which define the skills and knowledge participants must obtain to be prepared for work and life. By matching what is taught in our training programs to the standards in each subject area, participants will know what session instructors should be teaching, what they should be learning, and their takeaways. Dr. Naviar Barker Browne, an exceptional professor, researcher, author, and mentor, is responsible for ensuring that all of our programs are founded on excellence. The selected academies at the 25th International Families and Fathers Conference are held to the same high standards established by FFCA. We have these standards in place to provide each attendee with consistency, professionalism, and an indescribable sense of upliftment at the end of each training.

The Influence of Virtual Professional Development 

Do you want to be a bridge to help others? 

If you want to be a bridge, it means constant reinforcement of your own skills. Who knows, maybe a person will travel continents to seek your help. But what if you are not prepared? Annually, we audit our programs to ensure the renewing of a strong program (bridge) for those who join our international conference and other programs. I am excited to share our comprehensive Pre-Conference Academies, aimed at helping you create change personally and professionally. These intensive sessions are designed to give participants in-depth learning experiences. The purpose of offering these sessions is to support professionals who may want to enroll in the 25^th Annual Families and Fathers National/International Conference on April 22-25, 2024, and get special discounts with the added value of ongoing professional development support.