DEUCE Community Update: January 2024
Measuring impact is a tricky thing. A large focus for DEUCE Community in 2023 was data collection and considering metrics that put our participants’ needs first. With a lot of help from our community partners, we made a great stab at building a tool that will allow us to better serve those who come through our programs.
I believe there’s no perfect way to measure impact. Humans and human transformation are too complex to capture all the nuance. Nuance that in many cases, we can’t see until years or decades later. This is not a cop-out from attempting to measure the efficacy of social programs, but an observation of phenomena that are hard to pin down and categorize, like ripples on a pond.
I’m sure that one could do a great job measuring the ripples a pebble makes when it is skipped across or thrown into a lake. If we were inclined to do so, we could count and measure the crests and throughs. But I don’t think anyone could pin down when the pebble’s disruption truly ends. Is it when the sentiment settles after the rock drifts to the bottom of the lake? Were fish startled by its contact with the water? Was anyone else inspired to skip a stone?
Change is like that, but more complex. It’s hard to tell where It begins and ends, or what its lasting impact on the ecosystem will be.
One example is Daisy, the adopted daughter of one of our first program graduates David. Because of David, Daisy has a father. David is one of the best examples of fatherhood I’ve ever seen. His behavior regarding Daisy and the family he has built leaves me in awe. It is one of the most selfless things I’ve ever seen.
Another example is what David has taught me. Everyone who has come through our program has changed me for the better, but David has had a profound impact on my life. In mentoring him, I have become mentored by him. He has taught me some of my most valuable lessons. He has shown me what it is to have a work/life balance and how important restorative work is for someone in leadership. I didn’t have a positive example of that balance I could relate to before I saw it from David. More than anyone else, he has shown me what humans are capable of when they open their hearts. Whenever I doubt, David shows me that doing the work is infinitely better than not doing it. David is inspiring the world to skip stones. The world Is an objectively better place because he decided to be better. My favorite part about his story is that we’ll never know how it ends.
Campbell Lillard
DEUCE Community Inc. Co-Founder
Giving Tuesday Update
DEUCE Community is humbled by the love and support from the community for our Giving Tuesday Housing Campaign.
We started this campaign in what we felt was a Hail Mary effort to expand our housing services for men like Joseph Bruner who are actively taking on leadership and fighting for another shot at life.
63 Donors came together to give $27,819.02. This will cover a huge chunk of housing expenses for 2024 and allow us to open up 4 additional beds to men in our programs.
The fundraiser culminated in a community barbecue for supporters and program graduates at the gym. The event was led and orchestrated by Jose Bojorquez, program graduate and the only paid employee of DEUCE Community. Watching Jose shine in leadership here was a special moment for me and the organization.
The success of this fundraiser is a giant win that we did not believe possible. However, because the community believed in us, it happened.
Together, we are giving men transitioning out of prison and off the streets a shot at overcoming the gap between where they stand today and where they want to be tomorrow.
First Annual DEUCE Community Film Fest
We are excited to announce the first annual DEUCE Community Film Fest. We will be showcasing shorts that highlight the nonprofit, Los Angeles Culture, and transformation in the system, substance, and housing-impacted spaces.
The Film Fest will be held at 110 Lincoln from 3-6 PM on January 20th and will culminate with a special screening of a talk, which we will link below, and Q&A Session by Co-Founders Logan Gelbrich and Campbell Lillard.
January 20th at 3:00 p.m. | Film Fest @ 110 Lincoln Blvd.
Every Saturday at 1:00 p.m. | Community Workout at DEUCE Gym @ 110 Lincoln Blvd.
February 1st | DEUCE Community moves to a larger housing facility. This transition would not be possible without the support of people like you!
The Amazon Prime packages that show up on the porch of the DEUCE Community House mean more to these guys than you can possibly imagine. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.