Endorsements

We Save Lives By Changing Behavior

We are thrilled to have the support of so many of our community. We have a number of businesses, organizations, foundations, and individuals that have been instrumental in helping us launch and get started. You can find a list of some of these supporters here on our Champions page!

We are also very grateful to our community and civic leaders who have supported us and made it possible for us to grow and thrive. Here is what some of these wonderful citizens and leaders have to say about The Other Side Academy.

I am a supporter of “The Other Side Academy.” What is so exciting about The Other Side Academy is it gives people a chance to redeem themselves… It is based on responsibility and self-reliance – giving students the courage and confidence to go forward, get jobs, overcome addiction and change their lives. Our office will be supportive. I am going to encourage and be a voice with the legislature, law enforcement, and others to join me in supporting this proven model.

– Utah Attorney General, Sean Reyes

The Other Side Academy’s model is the most effective program I have seen in 20 years as a prosecutor. The Other Side Academy is incredibly cost-effective: It uses no tax dollars and its participants earn their own keep by working in businesses that teach them valuable job skills. The Other Side Academy gives hope and opportunity to people whose only path without The Other Side Academy is jail and prison.

– Jeff Buhman, Utah County District Attorney

The Other Side Academy is such a needed addition to our community. It provides critical life-changing opportunities for those who have struggled for years with the endless cycle of addiction, incarceration, and even homelessness. This model provides on-the-job training through training school businesses while creating the necessary funding to keep the organization in operation without the need for funding from the city, state, or federal government. Participants spend thirty months learning the necessary skills and habits to lead productive, addiction-free lives and become responsible, contributing citizens in their communities.

It is a unique and creative model that serves a tremendous need in our community and is a shining example of the scattered-site approach to supportive services that our community is working towards. Small, neighborhood-integrated facilities are an asset to their community and neighbors. The Other Side Academy is a shining example of what a facility should be.

I have met and worked with the creators and directors of The Other Side Academy and I cannot say enough about how impressed I am with their program, its students, and all who are affiliated with it. We would do well as a community to support and replicate this model to the best of our ability. It is a boon to our community and a blessing to those it serves because it works!

– Camille Winnie, Director of Community Services, Salt Lake City Downtown Alliance

We are fortunate that The Other Side Academy has selected our state and specifically Salt Lake City to establish a time-tested and nationally recognized program. This program provides training to individuals striving to improve their lives by changing their life choices, developing job skills, and becoming positive contributors to their community. The students at The Other Side Academy demonstrate a profound sense of appreciation for having been given this new life opportunity. In a very strict but nurturing environment, they develop the life skills necessary to change lifelong patterns of making poor choices that have been detrimental and costly to themselves and their community. Recidivism for prisoners, drug addicts, and the homeless is the likely outcome for those trapped in these behavior patterns. The Other Side Academy fills a critical missing gap as a solution to the challenges of these troubled populations.

– Zeke and Angela Dumke III

The Other Side Academy is housed in the Armstrong Mansion at 1st South and 7th East in Salt Lake City. The choice of location is a tribute to the Armstrong family legacy which in its day offered support to neighbors and the community. This program is patterned after Delancey Street in San Francisco, where prisoners are released to the program to learn a trade, are mentored and coached to be productive citizens in society. This is a “working” training school – not a rehab or sober living program. It is highly structured and students achieve personal and social accountability – it will be a jewel in the community.

– Scott Anderson, President, CEO- Zion’s Bank

I have seen firsthand how programs like The Other Side Academy beautify and uplift any community they join. Not only does this program save taxpayer’s dollars it literally saves lives and produces great citizens with a direct impact on some of our most challenging and difficult populations. I have seen the power and effectiveness of this model. I look forward to a future campus in Provo.

– Mayor John Curtis, Provo

The rehabilitative community model used by The Other Side Academy is unlike any other treatment facility and bridges a gap that no other model has successfully spanned. I have sent residents to The Other Side Academy and have seen the changes wrought in them the short time they have been there. The Other Side Academy’s focus on work, accountability, and commitment to the community is Utah’s best chance to reduce recidivism. It takes people who have been institutionalized most of their lives and turns them into productive, honest, and contributing members of the community.

– Christine Scott, Deputy Utah County Attorney

I chose The Other Side Academy as the nonprofit I presented to 100 Women Who Care SLC for their consideration at their quarterly donation meeting in December. The group voted a resounding “yes” to present $15,000 to the Academy to help launch one of its training school businesses, a moving company called “Other Side Movers” with the byline “We move lives.”

Already our neighborhood has benefitted from the positive spirit and presence of The Other Side Academy. The resident students were already giving service to clear the snow from the sidewalks and driveways of local churches and homes of those in need. The Other Side Academy went a step further and donated the services of its new moving company enterprise to help a local family undertake its move, who were thrilled and filled with gratitude at the unexpected help and the professional move. Surely The Other Side Academy is a remarkable addition to our neighborhood.

– Lisa Cannon, Entertainment Attorney – Cannon Consultancy

Communities across the country would be well served to have an Other Side Academy within reach. Everyone wins. The Other Side Academy is a miracle – a self-reliant community that saves the state millions costs nothing and saves lives. The Other Side Academy fills a critical missing gap as a solution to one of the most challenging and difficult populations in terms of addiction, crime, and homelessness.

– Andrew Shimberg, CEO VitalSmarts

The Other Side Academy is what we need in this community. They provide a solution in helping those individuals who are struggling with addiction, crime, and homelessness. The Other Side Academy contributes to the community by giving those individuals an opportunity to make a better life for themselves through dedication and hard work. The neighborhood will benefit greatly by having such a highly accountable and disciplined organization among them. With my extensive involvement with the homeless situation, it is evident that we need an organization like The Other Side Academy in our community.

– Scott N. Howell, Pioneer Park Coalition

The Other Side Academy is a partner that is so devoted to the success and the empowerment of its current students, many of whom are standing with us today. They have a proven track record that we know here in Salt Lake City of successfully managing a peer-based community while being a positive neighbor to the community they live and work in as well as the rest of Salt Lake City. And I know that their devotion and their passion for success will translate into The Other Side Village work we are doing together.

– Erin Mendenhall, Mayor

I’ve seen The Other Side Academy change lives for the better and lift the communities where they serve. That’s why I’m confident they can rise to any circumstances where our community asks them to lead.