Editor’s note: This is the ninth in a 10-part series looking at the agencies that were awarded grant funds by the SHARE Foundation as the first partners in the new Violence Intervention Plan. Each installment, which runs on Wednesdays and Sundays through the end of March, looks at a different agency, what was funded by the grant and how it will help address crime and violence in the community.
Through promoting self-esteem and education, Turning Point hopes to prevent abuse before it starts.
Turning Point received $20,000 from the SHARE Foundation to continue providing violence prevention education to families in the Turning Point shelter and to teenagers through school-based curriculum as part of the new Violence Intervention Program. Donna Beck, executive director of Turning Point, said they plan to focus on re-entry for victims who enter shelter programs and on reaching children as early as possible to focus on prevention.
The Violence Intervention Plan focuses on six categories that fall into two areas - community involvement and family support - with each category providing keys to addressing crime and violence in the community. The six categories are: Mentoring & Role Models, Re-Entry, Neighborhood Watches/Clean Neighborhoods, Parenting & Life Skills, Jobs & Targeted Education; and Mental Health, Substance & Drug Abuse.
Donna Beck, executive director of Turning Point, said the school-based curriculum is currently focused on three programs: safe dates, sexting and cyberbullying. Beck said technological advances have made things like sexting more ubiquitous among teens, and tougher for parents to be aware of as mobile apps can be made to hide photos and other information. And along with an increase in sexting, she said, has come an increase in suicides.
“We’re here to try and reach them as early as we can to prevent (abuse) from happening,” Beck said, noting that the school-based curriculum can, hopefully, prevent teens from later needing the services at the Turning Point shelter.
Reaching children at an early age is crucial to breaking a cycle of violence and abuse that can perpetuate by example. Beck said many children learn from their parents’ example, and since implementing the programs in schools, they’ve actually had some people seek help from Turning Point services after learning about them from their children.
Promoting self-esteem is a large part of both the school-based and shelter curriculum, she said, as that is a key part to preventing and stopping abuse.
The SHARE Foundation funding will allow Turning Point to continue the educational programming in the shelter and schools, with the money primarily going to fund salaries for staff with both the education and shelter programs.
But by getting involved in the SHARE Foundation’s conversations in developing the Violence Intervention Plan, Beck said Turning Point opted to make some other changes to try to have a more positive impact. Beck said the brainstorming helped Turning Point take a second look at how best to help someone.
The Turning Point shelter had been started as a 30-day emergency shelter, but Beck said 30 days is rarely enough time to turn a life around.
“You can’t do much in 30 days,” Beck said. “We’ve always been an emergency shelter … but we’re looking at trying to change lives.”
Now, the shelter operates on a 30-day assessment basis, meaning each case is evaluated every 30 days to see what has been done and what still needs to be addressed for the client, with each client able to stay in the shelter for up to six months.
“Through our shelter program, we want to try to focus on case management, utilize mentors and actually try to help them establish independent living,” Beck said. “We’re going to try to give them every possible chance and help them with the resources that they need to get back in society and to live violence-free.”
The Turning Point staff works with other agencies in the area to get each client referrals to the services they need, such as parenting classes, Beck said, which is a reflection of the cohesion between area nonprofits that the SHARE Foundation has helped establish through the plan.
“We’re all doing our individual parts together and it makes for more of an impact and lasting results,” Beck said. “It helps our job, what we do. … We look forward to working with all the different agencies in the community.”
Beck said the collaborative effort helps the Turning Point staff focus on their core mission - to serve victims of domestic violence and help them get to a better life.
“We see people at their worst, but there’s better days ahead,” Beck said.
Madeleine Leroux can be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected].