ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Turning Point of Lehigh Valley, an agency and shelter dedicated to helping survivors of domestic and intimate partner abuse, has been chosen the Shelter/Program Turnaround of the Year.
Turning Point received the award from domesticshelters.org, a nationally recognized nonprofit.
Nominated by Rachael Cohen-Hamilton, director of housing advocacy for Turning Point, the organization won in one of 34 categories, which also includes Most Innovative Service and Legal Advocate of the Year.
- Turning Point of Lehigh Valley won a national award for Shelter/Program Turnaround of the Year
- It was the only organization nominated, but also scored well with judges
- Turning Point lowered barriers to entry for survivors and raised employee salaries
Domesicshelters.org President Ashley Rumschlag said Turning Point was the only nominee for its award, but said it still had to score above a threshold to be considered, and “received a very high score.”
Turning Point Executive Director Lori Swynsky submitted a letter to accompany the nomination. She spoke about some of the changes the organization made in order to be a “turnaround” program.
“If you just look at our numbers, we're serving a lot more people," Swynsky said. "And on average, everyone who stays with us is staying more than twice as long on average as what they used to.
"And, partly, that was a programmatic decision to kind of get rid of arbitrary limits on how long people can stay with us.”
Investing in staff, survivors
Beyond getting rid of some arbitrary rules to help invest in survivors, Swynsky also described an investment in staff of the organization.
“Our board decided to increase the pay rates for everybody and make jobs at Turning Point have a living wage so that people could choose to come work here and make it a career if they want to,” Swynksy said.
Very impressed with the thinking of leadership: putting the staff and survivors first. That sounds easy and is probably what everyone thinks every shelter does [but] it isn't easy to do on a day-to-day basis and is only sometimes the case.Domesticshelters.org President Ashly Rumschlag
Regarding what stood out about the nomination, Rumschlag said, “Very impressed with the thinking of leadership: putting the staff and survivors first."
"That sounds easy and is probably what everyone thinks every shelter does [but] it isn't easy to do on a day-to-day basis and is only sometimes the case," she said.
"The entry cites specifics about how they did so — things like rolling back rules and empowering people and increasing staff compensation."
Rumschlag also said that according to Turning Point's 990 forms, which nonprofits file with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, its leadership found a way to increase revenue about 30% in recent years.
"It was great to see," Rumschlag said. "Definitely checking all the right boxes for success!”'''
'Make things better for people'
Swynsky explained how Turning Point raised revenues.
But what the community really responded to was the fact that we were taking these efforts to make things better for the people who work here and the people who need us.Turning Point President Lori Swynsky
“Being low barrier, getting rid of the rules… was this idea of our board to invest more in people, invest more in our clients at a time when, honestly, conventional wisdom should have been that we should have been pulling back and tightening our belts a little bit more.
“But what the community really responded to was the fact that we were taking these efforts to make things better for the people who work here and the people who need us.
"And I think in kind, what we found was that, you know, it increased our community contributions and allowed us to do this, and the people who receive services through us just appreciate it so much.”
