About Turning Point
Our Team | Board of Directors | Advisory Board | Our Generous Donors
Turning Point is a community based, non-profit organization addressing the needs of Muslim women and children through crisis intervention, individual and group counseling, advocacy, outreach, education and training.
Responding to the wide gap between needs and services available to the Muslim community, Turning Point offers culturally competent services, especially in the area of domestic violence.
In a safe and nurturing environment, Turning Point helps women empower themselves and transform their own lives as well as those of their families and children.
In partnership with public, private and religious institutions, Turning Point also aims at mentoring a new generation of social workers trained to address the unique needs of the Muslim community.
OUR TEAM
Robina Niaz, MSW - Founder & Executive Director
Robina is the founder and Executive Director of Turning Point for Women and Families, the first non-profit in New York to address domestic violence in the Muslim community in New York City. She has over 15 years of experience of working in main stream non- profit organizations and has served on many boards. She currently serves on the Boards of Muslim Consultative Network (NY) and Hartley Film Foundation. Robina is a member of the Field Education Advisory Board of the Adelphi University's Social Work School and the Social Work Advisory Council at Medgar Evers College.
A social worker, an activist and a fierce advocate of Muslim women's rights, Robina has spoken extensively against domestic violence and has received numerous honors and awards. In September 2009 Robina was named a CNN Hero and in November 2009 was featured as one of the “500 Most Influential Muslims” by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center/Georgetown University http://www.rissc.jo/. In March 2010 was named “Queens Person of the Week” by TV Channel NY1.
Robina was honored by Queens Council for Social Welfare and NASW-NY (2006) and by NEMWA (North East Muslim Women's Association) for her services to Muslim women and girls. She is also the recipient of Women In Islam's Compass Award (2006), Union Square Award (2005) and the Rose Mary Gunning Award (2001) from the Queens Borough President in recognition of her work against domestic violence in the South Asian community.
Born and raised in Pakistan, Robina has an M.S in Applied Psychology (Pakistan) and an MSW from Hunter College, NY, is a 2007 CORO Immigrant Leadership Fellow and a 2005 Open Society Institute/RCLA Social Justice Fellow. Robina speaks four South Asian languages.
Johana Ahmed Tima, MSW - Social Worker
Johana Ahmed Tima has been working with Turning Point since February 2009 and is responsible for providing individual counseling to women, assisting them with public assistance, making referrals, advocacy and community outreach.
Johana has an MSW from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and an MA in Development Studies from the North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Johana has worked with ActionAid Bangladesh (AAB) in the areas of women's empowerment, women's rights and gender equality, and domestic violence. In 2007, she worked with ActionAid's US office in Washington DC focusing on the intersection of Violence Against Women and HIV/AIDS.
During her graduate studies Johana volunteered in the Bangladeshi immigrant community in Ann Arbor and Hamtramck and helped raised awareness about domestic violence and its impact on families and offering support and resources. She also helped raise funds for cyclone (CIDR) victims in Bangladesh. Johana founded the International Social Work Students Association (ISWSA) and has been a member of the Bengali Students Association and Students for Organ Donation at the University of Michigan.
Born and raised in Bangladesh, Johana is fluent in Bengali and Hindi.
Shehnaz Khan - Youth Leader
Shehnaz joined Turning Point as a Youth Leader in December 2009 and is responsible for organizing, planning and facilitating the weekly youth group, field trip and other youth activities including community outreach. She planned and organized Turning Point's second annual Mecca to Manhattan: Muslim Women Moving Mountains (M2M) workshop series for Muslim girls and young women.
In addition to working at Turning Point Shehnaz volunteers at the Sunday School at Masjid Hamza in Long Island where she teaches students various aspects of religious history and religious identity. She also counsels students with special needs to facilitate their learning experience. During 2008-09, Shehnaz volunteered at the Pediatric Burn and Inpatient Rehabilitation Units at the New York Presbyterian Weill-Cornell Hospital, New York City.
Shehnaz is a Pakistani-American, born and raised in New York and is an undergrad from Hunter College, NY. She speaks Urdu and Arabic.
Sandra Glover - Book keeper
Sandra joined us in March 2009 as the bookkeeper and assists with fiscal management, documentation, accounting and preparing for reviews/audits and an outside auditor will prepare financial reports.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Aaisha Shaikh works as a SQL Server Database Administrator (DBA) for Gerson Lehrman Group as part of their Operations team. She has used her organizational and leadership skills to head the Logistics Committee for Inner-city Muslim Action Network's New York Community Cafe in January 2009, and the Publicity Chair for MSA National's East Zone conference in New York City in March 2005. Both events drew large number of attendees. As an undergraduate in Queens College - CUNY majoring in Computer Science, she served as Treasurer of the College's Muslim Students' Association and worked as the head coordinator for its Fast-a-Thon event. Aaisha is also founding member of MSA-NY, a coalition of Muslim Student organizations and volunteers her time at food pantries, participates in NYCares, and is an advocate of computer literacy and education.
Wahiba Abu-Ras from Columbia University School of Social Work, NY. She received her Fulbright fellowship to study Public Administration at J.F.Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Currently, Dr. Abu-Ras is an Assistant Professor at in the school of social work and has published several articles about domestic violence among Arab immigrant women, access and barriers; her research area of concentration is mental health among Muslim and Arab-Americans. Her current research interest include the impact of 9/11 on the well being of Arab and Muslims in the US and needs assessment for chaplaincy care Muslim patients in Hospitals and health care settings, PTSD and depression as related to and Muslims' coping methods with trauma. Dr. Abu-Ras is a founding member of Muslim Health Inc. and serves as a vice president on its board.
Robina Niaz Founder/Executive Director of Turning Point for Women and Families. She is a social worker, women's rights advocate and a civil rights activist. She currently serves on the Board of the Muslim Consultative Network and the Hartley Film Foundation. She is also a former Board member with Sakhi for South Asian Women, Coalition of Battered Women's Advocates and Queens Women's Network and an Advisory Board member with the Interfaith Council of New York.
Traci Sanders - Board Treasurer. Traci joined the Brennan Center in September 2007 and is the Operations Coordinator. Her work includes general operations, support to human resources, and administrative support to the Finance team. Prior to joining the Brennan Center, Ms. Sanders held paralegal positions at Cascino Vaughan Law Offices, the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, and Meites Mulder Mollica & Glink. In her off time, she freelances as a Stage Manager/Production Assistant for the Chicago International Salsa Congress and the National Black Theatre Festival. Ms. Sanders received her B.A. in Political Science from the University of Chicago in 2003.
Abby Scher, Ph.D is Associate Fellow with the Institute for Policy Studies' program on Economic Inequality and the Common Good. She also has served as editorial director of the think tank Political Research Associates, which tracks civil liberties violations and the U.S. Right. She was founding director of New York Community Media Alliance (then known as Independent Press Association-New York), a network of immigrant, African American and other community press. There she launched Voices That Must Be Heard, an email/web weekly translating key articles from the ethnic press. In 2003-2005, she was honored by the Ford Foundation with a Leadership for a Changing World award. A sociologist, her writing on civil liberties, economic justice, and women's issues appear in a range of progressive publications.
Dr. Rabia Tahir obtained her Ph.d in Pharmacy from St. John's University College and served there as an Assistant Professor with a focus area of Internal Medicine in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy Practice and was also the Clinical Pharmacy Coordinator of Internal Medicine at Queens Hospital Center, NY.Dr. Tahir has also served as an adjunct faculty member at the College of Mount Saint Vincent, School of Nursing, in Riverdale and is currently an Assistant Professor at Tuoro College in the Department of Pharmacy and Health Outcomes. Being one of the founding faculty members at the college, Dr. Tahir has been involved in the curriculum development of the program and chairs the OSCE (what does this stand for?) committee in an effort to implement the college's plans for administering OSCEs as an innovative assessment tool and teaching methodology within the pharmacy curriculum.
Dr. Tahir is an active member of numerous national pharmacy organizations and has been a speaker at many conferences. She is also a reviewer for several respected pharmacological journals and has published over a dozen articles herself. She is an active member of both the Touro College and Harlem communities, forming collaborations with community based organizations including the Harlem Health Promotion Center (HHPC) which is one of the 33 Prevention Research Centers funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At HHPC, she has helped develop a community-based, public health-oriented practicum program for Touro students.
Dr. Tahir's areas of interest include obesity, service learning, health literacy, health disparities, and community based practice research. She also has done extensive research on the history of pharmacy in the Harlem community and has presented her research at various seminars within the Harlem community especially during black history month. Dr. Tahir is also an active volunteer in various non-pharmacy related organizations such as Islamic Relief USA, CAIR NY, and local soup kitchens in Bedford Stuyvesant and in Harlem, NY.
Shala Gafary graduated from New York University (B.A., College of Arts and Science, 2003) in Politics and Middle Eastern Studies, with a concentration in Iranian politics. While at NYU, Shala complemented her studies with a focus on advanced Persian, for which she was awarded the Middle Eastern Studies Department's top honor. She also participated in an Uzbek language consortium at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. Shala graduated from Cardozo School of Law (J.D., 2009). At Cardozo, Shala was trained in oral advocacy in the Intensive Trial Advocacy Program. In her second year of law school, she was selected for the Human Rights and Genocide Clinic, for which she contributed research to a European Union project on the economic, legal and political state of post-genocide Srebrenica following recent elections. Shala also participated in the Criminal Defense Clinic, where she worked with the Legal Aid Society in representing indigent persons in New York Supreme Court. Shala has previously worked at the law firm Jones Day, in federal judicial chambers and the New York State Division of Human Rights. Currently, she is a judicial law clerk at the New Jersey Superior Court. Her activism has included a number of roles with the Islamic Center at NYU, including its alumni outreach wing.
ADVISORY BOARD
Aisha Al-adawiya, Founder Women In Islam Inc.
Azizah Al-hibri, Founder Karamah
Adem Carroll, Executive Director Muslim Consultative Network
Hina Chaudhry M.D
Gary Mallon, DSW, Professor Social Work, Hunter College School of Social Work
Asma Sadiq, M.D
Tayyibah Taylor, Founder Azizah Magazine
OUR GENEROUS DONORS
Fund For New Citizens at The NY Community Trust
www.nycommunitytrust.org/page24865.cfm
Independence Community Foundation
www.icfny.org
Lily Auchincloss Foundation
www.lilyauchinclossfoundation.org
Queens Legal Services (DOJ/VAWA)
www.queenslegalservices.org
The Sister Fund
www.sisterfund.org
New York Foundation
http://www.nyf.org
New York Women's Foundation
www.nywf.org
Union Square Awards
www.unionsquareawards.org
Additional Thanks To:
- CORO Immigrant Civic Leadership Fellowship (2007)
- Compass Award from Women In Islam, Inc. (2006)
- North Eastern Muslim Women's Alliance Award (2006)
- Queens Council for Social Welfare's Fred Kuo Jr, Award (2006)
- Open Society Institute - Social Justice Fellowship (2005)
- Union Square Award (2005)
- Queens Borough President's Rose Mary Gunning Award (2001)