July 23, 2025 —Kendal at Oberlin residents and staff strive for excellence, so when the community achieved a “High Performer” designation in 2023 for being LGBTQ+ inclusive in long-term care and senior housing, everyone celebrated and then began to set their sights higher.
The community-wide effort paid off.
In 2025, Kendal at Oberlin was designated as a “Leader” by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and SAGE, a national advocacy and services organization for LGBTQ+ elders.
Kendal at Oberlin is just one of 31 communities across the country to achieve this coveted “LGBTQ+ Long-Term Care Equality Leader (LEI)” designation.
Inclusive and Welcoming
“The vision of an inclusive and welcoming community has been part of Kendal’s values for decades and is one of the pillars of our current Strategic Plan,” said Seth Vilensky, Chief Executive Officer. “The LEI Survey created an opportunity to reflect on and reevaluate our procedures, messaging and staff training as they are perceived by the LGBTQ+ and Allies community. We are so pleased to be recognized as a Leader in the LEI.”
The nine-month process, led by a 10-person team of residents and staff, resulted in new and refined Best Practices in four criteria: resident services and support; employment benefits and policies; nondiscrimination and staff training; and resident and community engagement.
Capturing Resident and Staff Sentiment
One major undertaking was the development of two surveys: the “Resident Satisfaction Survey” and another survey for employees.
The “Resident Satisfaction Survey” gave residents who identify as LGBTQ+ a chance to share their experiences, beginning with their time as a prospective resident.
“A lot of effort and careful thought went into this survey,” said Kim Preston, Community Outreach Director and the team facilitator.
For their survey, employees could answer questions anonymously about how safe and welcoming Kendal is for the LGBTQ+ community.
Participation in both surveys was very high, as was the case for an online training course entitled “Preventing and Responding to Bullying.”
For the resident and community engagement criterion, Kendal performed “above and beyond,” according to the 10-person team of residents and staff. The team, with assistance from Kendal’s LGBTQ+ & Allies Special Interest Group, compiled a “super impressive” report of all the engagement activities, Kim said.
LGBTQ+ activities at Kendal include:
- Training sessions with related organizations at Oberlin College and in Lorain County.
- Letter-writing campaigns to the Ohio governor and legislators advocating for civil rights for LGBTQ+-identifying individuals, most recently voicing its opposition to the Ohio Bathroom Bill. This legislation, which went into effect in February, mandates that students in public schools in Ohio be restricted to using restrooms associated with their biological sex assigned at birth without regard to their gender identity or gender expression.
- Movies, speakers, book clubs and workshops are held throughout the year, with added emphasis during June Pride Month.
Meeting other best practices led to minor tweaks in language and printed materials. For instance, one benchmark required offering employees at least one health plan that covers medically necessary health services for transgender people.
“Kendal has such a health plan, but we had not made that clear in the language,” Kim said. “It was also not clear that unpaid family leave includes domestic partners, but we were able to clarify the language to help employees better understand their coverage.”