The payoff is about to begin: On Feb. 9 some of the first recipients of the Family Development Credential (FDC), developed at Cornell University and based on research at Cornell over the past 20 years, will be recognized in a noontime ceremony in Albany.

The FDC is earned in a training program that enables paraprofessionals from a wide range of agencies to help families solve problems and achieve long-lasting self-reliance. To date, 350 workers have received the credential.

Lt. Gov. Mary O. Donohue and other Albany dignitaries will be present at the ceremony, which is being held to recognize the newly credentialed workers and launch a statewide Family Development Association FDC holders. A panel discussion on the FDC program will be held at 2 p.m. at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center Hall. The event is being planned by the New York State Family Development Association with support from the New York Department of State and the state Community Action Association.

The FDC helps the state reorient its health, education and human service systems by providing families with support and teaching them self-reliance, instead of agencies focusing on "rescuing or fixing" families in trouble. The training was developed in collaboration with the New York State Community Action Network, Cornell Cooperative Extension and 15 state agencies that deal with families. The training and credentialing program is available in 35 locations throughout the state and serves as a model for several other states.

"The family development approach allows families to reclaim their dreams for healthy self-reliance within their communities and then set and reach their own goals," explains Christiann Dean, director of the Cornell Empowering Families Project, which oversees the training and credentialing of participants. "It gives families, not agency workers, the primary responsibility for setting goals and finding ways to reach those goals." Dean also is the author of the 321-page training curriculum.

The FDC is an example of several welfare reform initiatives by Cornell's College of Human Ecology.

"Preliminary evidence shows that the human service system needs to improve the abilities of staff to effectively implement policy changes," says Charles McClintock, associate dean of the college. "The FDC promotes self-sufficiency for families and helps them get there by building on their strengths. This approach is in stark contrast to a traditional service delivery approach that often over-emphasizes the problems that clients and families have."

Typically, county agencies such as Cornell Cooperative Extension, community action associations, health departments and community colleges send staff to the weeklong FDC Trainers Institute at Cornell. Participants then return to their own counties to teach the yearlong, 110-hour curriculum to workers in the field, who develop a portfolio and then take an examination developed at Cornell. The Cornell Empowering Families Project reviews the portfolios, Cornell Information Technologies scores the exams and Cornell's Division of Continuing Education issues the credentials. Workers can earn college credit for the FDC through SUNY Empire State College and the national PONSI system.

The FDC initiative is advised by the state Family Development Association and the state Interagency Work Group on Family Development.

The worker handbook and training manual were funded by the New York Department of State, Division of Community Services. Funding for the FDC Training Institute is provided by the Community Services Block Grant Funds allocated to New York state by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Cornell's continuing role in FDC training and evaluation is funded by participant fees and a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Empowerment Skills for Family Workers: A Worker Handbook and Empowerment Skills for Family Workers: A Trainer's Manual can be purchased for $32 each, postpaid, from the Cornell University Resource Center, 7BTP, Ithaca, N.Y. 14850; phone (607) 255-2080; or fax (607) 255-9946. Although the curriculum is available for purchase, if agency trainers want to prepare workers for the credential, they must attend a Cornell Trainers Institute.