A Pasco County family is putting $1 million on the line to change how Saint Leo University supports students in recovery, all in the name of their late son, Derek J. Mitchell.
The donation will launch the Derek J. Mitchell Collegiate Recovery Program, a residential community that pairs sober housing with counseling and peer support. The program is expected to welcome its first cohort in the fall 2026 semester, and university leaders say it will make Saint Leo the only private Catholic university in Florida with dedicated residential recovery housing.
According to Saint Leo University, Dewey and Becky Mitchell provided the $1 million founding gift to establish the program and start building an endowment to sustain it. In the university’s announcement, President Dr. Jim Burkee said, “Recovery starts with community, dignity, and hope.” The school describes the Mitchells’ gift as the largest private commitment Saint Leo has directed toward student recovery initiatives.
University officials are pitching the new program as a local answer to a national shortfall. As reported by Tampa Bay 28, Stephen Kubasek, Saint Leo’s vice president for university advancement, noted that more than 600,000 college students nationwide identify as being in some level of recovery, yet fewer than 200 colleges offer anything similar to this kind of residential support. Academic work has put the national recovery-student estimate in the same ballpark, underscoring how thin campus-based services can be for this group (Addiction Research & Theory).
What the program will offer
As detailed by Saint Leo University, the Derek J. Mitchell Collegiate Recovery Program is designed as more than just a dry dorm. It will feature sober residential housing, individual and group counseling led by licensed clinicians, peer mentorship opportunities, and sober social events meant to build community.
Students who join will be expected to arrive with at least six months of sobriety, participate in counseling and recovery meetings, and agree to a sober-living covenant that sets the tone for the residential community.
Housing and funding
To get the community off the ground, Saint Leo plans to convert an existing campus dorm into dedicated sober housing and pair residents with recovery counselors, according to FOX 13 Tampa Bay. The outlet also reports that members of the Mitchell family are working to build a multi‑million dollar endowment so the program can keep operating long term as the university finishes planning.
Modeled after Augsburg's StepUP
Saint Leo leaders say they looked north for inspiration, studying Augsburg University’s long-running StepUP program in Minneapolis and adapting its peer-driven, recovery-in-residence model. Augsburg’s StepUP program, founded in 1997 and widely cited as one of the nation’s oldest residential collegiate recovery communities, combines sober housing, counseling, weekly community meetings and a campus culture centered on recovery. Augsburg University reports strong academic outcomes and abstinence rates among StepUP participants, results Saint Leo officials say they hope to mirror.
For Dewey and Becky Mitchell, the project is rooted in grief and legacy. “Derek was a wonderful young man,” Dewey Mitchell told Tampa Bay 28. The family has said they want the program to offer other students the kind of structured support Derek did not have, while honoring his memory and easing financial and practical barriers that can put college out of reach for students in recovery.
Saint Leo officials plan to roll out details on housing assignments, application requirements and program staffing in the coming months as they finalize the recovery community and fundraising plans. The university expects to start enrolling students for the fall 2026 term and has begun sharing preliminary information through its communications channels for prospective students and supporters.
