LaSharnda Beckwith wins 2023 Wipfli Innovation Excellence Award

Wipfli LLP, a top 20 national advisory and accounting firm, is pleased to announce that LaSharnda Beckwith, president and CEO of Lutheran Social Services of Southern California (LSSSC), is the winner of Wipfli’s 2023 Innovation Excellence Award in recognition of the organization’s vision to create a holistic, long-term housing solution for homeless men in San Bernardino, California.

Beckwith was presented with the $20,000 award on July 11 during the opening session of Wipfli’s 2023 Stronger to Serve training conference in Las Vegas for the leaders and staff members of federally funded nonprofits and human services agencies.

The award will support the organization’s implementation of the project, which will double LSSSC’s capacity to provide services supporting independent living skills, workforce training, and medical and behavioral health.

“This award is so significant in acknowledging the work that we’ve done,” Beckwith said. “We’re so appreciative. It validates what we’ve been trying to do, and we couldn’t be more thrilled.”

The community wellness campus spearheaded by the six-county agency will be able to serve more than 150 clients in need of wraparound services. The transitional and longer-term supportive housing in the new project will consist of pet-friendly individual units referred to as “pods.” The plan will also establish an apartment complex for those ready for permanent supportive housing after up to 12 months of transitional services, from which residents will be able to continue accessing LSSSC’s programs.

The San Bernardino project is the first of several wellness campuses envisioned for the region incorporating the sustainability model.

“We want folks to reach a level of sustainability in their quality of life,” Beckwith said. “To elevate people, you have to provide the space for them to feel they have dignity.”

The Innovation Excellence Award was established in 2018 to honor the late Evelyn Wright Moore, a Head Start leader from Angleton, Texas, who attended 16 Wipfli national training conferences until her passing in 2017.

Learn more about the services Wipfli provides for nonprofits and government-funded agencies.

LaSharnda Beckwith, center, receives the 2023 Innovation Excellence Award at the Stronger to Serve conference from Wipfli principal George Persekian, left, and Wipfli partner Stephanie Cavadeas, right, representing the Wipfli Foundation. Beckwith leads Lutheran Social Services of Southern California.