The sweet way a Utah donut shop is saving lives

SALT LAKE CITY — "Housing alone doesn't solve homelessness," said Preston Cochrane, CEO of The Other Side Village. "You have to retrain their way of thinking."

That philosophy drives The Other Side Village's twofold mission: providing tiny homes for people transitioning out of homelessness while equipping them with the life and work skills they need to be self-reliant.

The nonprofit doesn't charge participants for its program or rely on federal grants. Instead, it hopes to fund all its operations with social enterprises. One such business is The Other Side Donuts, a whimsical shop serving decadent, overfilled pastries. The flagship store, at 760 S. Redwood Road in Salt Lake City, is just around the corner from the tiny-home village.

"'It's Sweet to Save a Life' is our official motto," said Nicholas Smith, general manager. "Not because we intentionally chose it; I think it just stuck. I think it lines up with exactly what we're trying to do.

"When you step into The Other Side Donuts, anybody that you're speaking to probably has a story of redemption," Smith said, "whether it's me personally — I had my own bout of homelessness, sleeping on couches — or you speak to someone who just barely got off the streets that was living in a tent behind the Capitol for the past six years."

In addition to helping The Other Side Village financially, Cochrane said the enterprises offer job training. "They're really an incubator for individuals to come in and learn how to apply the principles that they're learning on a daily basis in the workplace."

With priority given to Salt Lake City residents, anyone who has been homeless for 12 months is eligible to apply to The Other Side Village, though the average is nine years. Once accepted into the program, they'll spend an average of nine months in a prep school. Part of that time includes working at The Other Side Donuts or a different social enterprise.

"It's a lot of that peer accountability, where they have to learn how to almost behave differently and act differently and speak differently. Because what happened on the street, it's not the same here," Cochrane said. "We're not going to allow that to happen. We're going to hold you to a higher standard."

Once individuals finish the program, they can live in their own tiny home for as long as they want. The fully furnished homes are in a gated community on a 40-acre plot of land in Salt Lake City's Poplar Grove neighborhood.

Phase one includes 60 homes and support services — which are open to the public — including a medical clinic and dental office. There's also a clubhouse for residents to gather for socializing and for the formal neighborhood meetings held multiple times a week. Each "neighborhood" consists of 25 to 30 homes.

"We're doing something that hasn't been done. We're building a community that helps each other, that is self-sustaining, that's a sober community. And ultimately it's peer-run, it's self-governed. Those in the village, they have responsibilities to keep it safe," Cochrane said.

Hear the stories of the people behind The Other Side Donuts and learn firsthand how the program is helping rebuild lives in KSL's Beyond Business video above.

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