From the very beginning, Turning Point’s vision has been to create a robust community where all people experience mental, physical and spiritual wellness.
Over the course of four decades, we have seen how a caring, holistic approach can create true, positive change in people’s lives. The success of our clients has inspired thousands of other members of our community to seek positive alternatives for their own lives.
| DATES | EVENTS |
|---|---|
| 1975 | The Reverend Doug Heilman forms Discipleship Ministries, an organization that offers teenage gang members counseling and crisis intervention as an alternative to the streets. |
| 1981 | Discipleship Ministries expands its services with the opening of Discipleship House, a home for up to 12 young men with nowhere else to turn. |
| 1982 | Discipleship Ministries starts Employment Action, a program aimed at helping young people find jobs. |
| 1983 | Discipleship Ministries starts a pre-GED program designed for young dropouts who read below an 8th-grade level. |
| 1984 | Discipleship Ministries sets up a 24‐hour, volunteer-staffed telephone hotline and referral service for substance abusers looking to get clean. |
| 1986 | The Reverend Doug Heilman forms Discipleship Ministries, an organization that offers teenage gang members counseling and crisis intervention as an alternative to the streets. |
| 1987 | New York State grants funding to Discipleship Ministries for the first time. This funding allows the organization to open its first Literacy Program and Outreach Center. |
| 1990 | Discipleship Ministries launches one of the first outreach, case management, and supportive services programs in New York City for people living with HIV/AIDS. |
| 1992 | Discipleship Ministries a 37-bed facility for homeless young people between the ages of 18 and 25. |
| 1993 | Discipleship Ministries establishes a drug prevention program for young people. |
| 1994 | Discipleship Ministries receives Medical Reimbursement Certification for its HIV/AIDS program. |
| 1995 | Discipleship Ministries creates the Red Hook Housing Development Fund Corporation to provide housing to low-income young adults. |
| 1995 | The Education Center opens with computer, math, and writing labs. |
| 1996 | Discipleship Ministries renovates two buildings and opens the Henry Street House, a 31-unit permanent housing unit in Red Hook. |
| 1998 | Discipleship Ministries opens the Employment Skills-Building program and initiates the Career Development program to prepare people for work and help them find jobs. |
| 1998 | Discipleship Ministries helps more people living with HIV/AIDS to find stable homes by adding 26 new units to the Scattered Site Housing Program. |
| 2002 | Discipleship Ministries becomes a member of STRIVE, a holistic career development program to help more people find lasting careers. |
| 2003 | Discipleship Ministries opens its first HIV/AIDS primary care clinic to help people living with HIV/AIDS get the medical treatment they need to manage their disease. |
| 2004 | Discipleship Outreach Ministries, Inc. formally changes its name to Turning Point in an effort to signify the organization’s entrance into a larger community of agencies working with people in need. |
| 2005 | Turning Point begins offering mental health services. Dr. Carl Jean-Francois begins providing psychiatric services to Turning Point clients, signifying the organization’s commitment to physical, spiritual, and mental wellness. |
| 2005 | Turning Point begins providing services specifically designed to assist the growing and severely under-served immigrant population living in Brooklyn. |
| 2006 | Turning Point's Education Center becomes the first official GED testing location operating within a community-based non-profit organization in New York State. |
| 2006 | Turning Point is awarded a funding contract by the New York State Division of Parole to assist formerly incarcerated individuals. |
| 2007 | Turning Point launches the LUCHA Project (Latinas Unidas Contra HIV/AIDS) to address the needs of Latina women in Brooklyn. |
| 2007 | Turning Point receives a CLIA waiver from the New York State Department of Health, allowing the organization to conduct rapid HIV testing. As a result, the organization was able to launch a Mobile Health Unit. Turning Point also began collaborating with other community partners to form the Brooklyn Expanded Syringe Access Provides Initiative and the Early Intervention Services program. |
| 2007 | Turning Point launches the Bridge Back to Health Project, providing holistic mental health services on site. |
| 2008 | Turning Point begins addressing the problem of underage drinking by conducting a Town Hall Meeting on Underage Drinking at PS 503/506, the only initiative of its kind in downstate New York. |
| 2008 | Turning Point launches Arts and Culture Collective, enabling youth to receive leadership training, develop team building skills, and gain job readiness skills. |
| 2008 | Turning Point's Education Center expands college and career programs to help students prepare for success in college and their careers. |
| 2009 | Turning Point becomes one of two Literacy Zones selected in New York City by the New York State Department of Education, helping non-reading adults gain essential literacy skills. |
| 2009 | Turning Point expands its Scattered Site housing program, adding 150 new apartments for people living with HIV/AIDS and concurrent mental illnesses, MICA, and substance abuse issues. |
| 2009 | Turning Point launches EXCEL, a program that extends its services to disconnected youth by focusing on integrated life skills and community service. |
| 2009 | Turning Point opens the New Educational Center, providing educational programs in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. |
| 2009 | Turning Point launches the We Care About You shower program, providing a low-threshold "first step" designed to help homeless individuals off the street and learn about the Turning Point services that can help them turn their lives around. |
| 2009 | Turning Point is honored by the Public Health Association of New York State for its outstanding service in areas of public health. |
| 2010 | Turning Point's Education Center hosts its first College Jam, an annual day-long conference designed to encourage the entire community to envision what “beyond the GED” means. |
| 2010 | Ray Figueroa, Executive Director since 2002, retires. Tata Traore-Rogers is hired as Turning Point’s first Chief Program Officer. |
| 2011 | Jerardo Calixto is named Student of the Year by the New York State Department of Education for his leadership and achievements in academic studies and community service. |
| 2011 | Carlton Mitchell is hired as Turning Point’s Interim Executive Director. |
| 2012 | Turning Point GED student Jimmy Joseph Point-du-Jour is named Student of the Year by the New York State Department of Education, and Turning Point's Joe Zimmerman is named Teacher of the Year, one of only two teachers in the City to be honored with this award. |
| 2012 | Turning Point GED student Jimmy Joseph Point-du-Jour is named Student of the Year by the New York State Department of Education, and Turning Point's Joe Zimmerman is named Teacher of the Year, one of only two teachers in the City to be honored with this award. |
| 2014 | Tata Traore-Rogers is named Executive Director. |
| 2014 | The organization adopts the name TURNING POINT BROOKLYN. |