In my second year of membership on the Grants Committee, I learned about The Other Side Academy (TOSA), one of three finalists for our $100,000 grant. I remember that the concept originated in Salt Lake City and Mayor Hancock learned about their success. He reached out to entice TOSA to come to Denver. And today we have TOSA Denver, the 2020 finalist and recipient of a $64,800 grant.

According to the TOSA website:

The Other Side Academy is a “classic therapeutic community.” It is based on one of the most researched and effective models for helping those with long histories of addiction and criminal behavior over the past 70 years. In a therapeutic community, the powerful influence of experienced peers is employed in place of therapists or doctors who don’t share the same life experience as our students. 

Those who are unwilling to live by house rules, keep pace with the rigorous schedule, or be honest about their behavior need not apply. All applicants must be in good health and between 18-64 years of age. We accept male and female participants without regard to race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, or physical disability. TOSA’s request to Impact100 Metro Denver was to fund a commercial kitchen in their York Street headquarters, which would then give participants the skills to work in the food services industry, not to mention serve outstanding meals each evening.

Lola Zagey Strong is Managing Director and Co-Founder of Denver’s TOSA. She attended a Saturday morning coffee for prospective Impact100 members in 2021 – and she joined! I’ve had the good opportunity to get to know Lola and, needless
to say, I’ve become a fan of Lola. Recently I took three Impact100 members, Founding Member Barbara Brett, Nancy Miller and Cate Lewis, to meet with Lola and get a tour of the headquarters and their adjacent campus, including a women’s residence and a newly renovated home on Gaylord.

Some of our observations:

• Every participant we met was welcoming and gracious
• We learned about “the bench” – where applicants sit before their first interview to ponder their life before and what their life could be in the future – after the 30-month TOSA program.
• We saw the poster displaying encouraging messages and photos from “heroes” – participants who had successfully transitioned to a new life after TOSA.
• We sat in the room where participants who violated TOSA rules meet with other participants who experienced the violation.  Think “intervention”: what goes on in the room “stays in the room.”
• The crew in the Impact100 commercial kitchen looked to be having a good time and proud of the workspace that is opening doors for their future lives.

Here is the key to TOSA’s business model. After a rigorous application and screening process, successful applicants immediately have a place to live, three meals daily, and a job. The job? Working in the TOSA moving company. We
learned from Lola that the moving business supports TOSA’s operations. An outgrowth of the moving company has been donations of furniture and household goods that clients happily donate to TOSA. Those donations are now in
The Other Side Furniture Boutique, located at 3125 Federal Boulevard in Denver. We left Lola and headed to the Boutique. I walked in and found what I had been looking for, a globe on a contemporary stand. Sold! The three of us wandered around and I bought a few more things I didn’t need but wanted! As we interacted with two TOSA members, we saw the skills they were developing: customer service, retail sales, and learning to create attractive displays of merchandise.

TOSA had a grand opening on April 3 of a lovely house renovated for 48 male participants. But what you probably want to know is TOSA’s success, which is remarkable. On the web page for “results”, the lead is: 

“We Save Lives By Changing Behavior”

The Other Side Academy is not just about getting people off drugs. It is about helping people create purposefully, connected, and happy lives. Ultimately, the only real measure of our work is how many of our students develop the character required to create that kind of life. That is our ultimate goal. Our minimal goal is that in the years after graduation, our students are drug-free, crime-free, and gainfully employed.

As of March 2022, TOSA reports:

• 45% Retention Rate
  This is the total percentage of people who make a commitment to stay for 2.5 years and who are still present at the end of the 2.5 years.
• 37% Elect to Stay an Optional Third Year
  This is the number of people who complete their required two-and-a-half-year commitment and without any court requirements, choose to stay a third year within the program.
• 100% of all graduates are employed
  This is the percentage of people who had a job when they graduated from The Other Side Academy.
• 14% Recidivism Rate of Graduates
  This is the percentage of people who have completed the minimum 2.5-year program and have been rearrested after graduation.
• 71% of all graduates are DCE
  DCE means Drug-Free, Crime-Free, and Employed for all graduates of The Other Side Academy.
• 84% of all graduates are employed
• 83% of all graduates are crime-free
• 74% of all graduates are drug-free
• 82% DCE Rate of Graduates who Stayed 3+ Years
  This is the Drug-Free, Crime-Free, and Employed rate for those students who elected to voluntarily stay a third year in the program.