Just in time for its rebranding as HopeSpoke, the Child Guidance Center received durable furniture and a hand-assembled rug as the Lincoln nonprofit winner of the All Makes 100 Year, $100,000 Office Makeover Contest to create a more welcoming environment for its clients, and a professional workspace for its staff.

Founded in 1949, HopeSpoke seeks to support children and families through some of their most difficult times with with crisis and residential services, an extended day treatment program, outpatient services and school programs. Its vision is “for all children and families to be happy and hopeful.”

As with many nonprofit organizations, HopeSpoke’s furniture was donated. According to the All Makes design team, Hope Spoke prioritized durability. In addition, Designer Savannah Zimmer said she wanted to create a workspace that benefitted both the clients (many of which are children) and the employees. HopeSpoke staff selected the second-floor conference room and second-floor lobby and first-floor boardroom to receive new furniture. The second-floor conference room and boardroom had used conference tables that were heavy and static, making them difficult to move and rearrange. HopeSpoke’s clients use the second-floor lobby and sit there for longer periods.

Since HopeSpoke’s new brand includes bright colors and playful shapes – blue, green, yellow and purple, our design team included fun items to complement the space. She also got creative with the flooring, hand-assembling a rug using Interface:Visual Code Carpet Tiles in the second-floor lobby.

All Makes design selected Hon products for the project including the Basyx fixed-base table, the Olson Stacker chair, the Grove two-seat lounge chair, the Prominent mesh back task chair, and Motivate high-density stacker chairs.

“The furniture gets heavy use,” she said. “I thought about how the people that work there feel when they’re helping someone through a difficult time. They want to feel professional and want clients to take them seriously.”

In addition to new office furniture, HopeSpoke received a Kyocera Copystar M5526 copier and a Meeting Owl conferencing solution from Owl Labs.

The All Makes judges panel selected HopeSpoke as a finalist for the All Makes Office Makeover Contest along with Voices of Hope, Junior Achievement of Lincoln, The HUB Central Access Point for Young Adults and Developmental Services of Lincoln. HopeSpoke received 18,062 votes to win.

The All Makes 100 Year, $100,000 Office Makeover Contest occurred between April and June of this year. We announced the winners on July 9.

Before

The conference room had used chairs and tables that were difficult to move.

The second-floor lobby previously featured used furniture and a bare floor.

After

The new boardroom furniture features Hon task chairs and tables with casters for easy rearranging.

The new lobby furniture features the Hon Grove and the hand-assembled rug.