Meet Dammond Devon Steen

“Before Goodwill, I didn’t see myself going anywhere in life. I thought I’d go back to prison. I had no path. Now I’m achieving things, big things.”
-Dammond, Law Clerk, Tutor, College Student

“I was 17. I was messed up. I was in prison, with no support… At that point in my life, no one cared. I didn’t care. But at Goodwill, people actually cared. They believed in me. I’m not just a number to them,” Dammond says with a beaming smile.

How life has been transformed for this young man.

Bouncing from foster home to foster home, Dammond was angry and disillusioned.  One day, his temper got the best of him and in a split second, he made the choice to hit a police officer. His choice came with heavy consequences. He was sent off to prison. Not juvenile detention. Adult prison.

When he got out of prison, Dammond’s parole officer immediately introduced him to Goodwill and he found out about their flexible education programs. He decided to obtain his GED and completed his five tests in a month and a half!

He put in the time and started changing how he viewed himself and his future. “Goodwill saw something in me that I didn’t see. They saw a spark. Once I got involved, I loved it,” relates Dammond.

What about the future? Dammond started college in August. He has two jobs: he’s a Law Clerk at The Law Office of Stewart Rojo and a  Tutor at Goodwill Central Texas. He is currently attending Austin Community College and is studying to get his degree in Business Management and Social Work.

But most of all, Dammond wants to continue to give hope to people the way Goodwill has given him hope. “Goodwill is a place to feel safe. You are not judged. You are encouraged. You’re told, positively, that you CAN do it, no matter what you’ve been through, if you try hard enough…and, I did.”