David Jon Louison was the 5-year-old son of one of Brockton's prominent attorneys who was kidnapped in 1974.  The Greater Brockton community united, raising reward money for use to secure the child's safe return.  Unfortunately, that did not happen, and the family made the decision to use reward funds to open a shelter.

The David Jon Louison (DJL) Center was founded in 1982 as a non-profit, charitable, educational foundation created to serve families with infants and toddlers who were homeless or living in cars, abandoned buildings, and overcrowded apartments.  The original center has expanded to encompass three adjoining properties located in a residential neighborhood in the Greater Brockton.

After a quarter of a century of successful service delivery to homeless families, the David Jon Louison Center's Board of Directors voted to merge with the Old Colony YMCA, thereby adding value and significantly enhancing the mission of both organizations.  The David Jon Louison Center was chartered with YMCA of the USA as an Old Colony Y division in July 2006.

The Old Colony YMCA DJL Center's mission is to assist families through the crisis of homelessness, while providing services that promote a successful transition towards self-sufficiency.  The Center was founded on the principle that every human being has dignity.  Homeless individuals often lose their own sense of dignity, therefore, the Center strives to recognize, reinforce, and respect the dignity of all people who come to us for assistance.

The Center offers temporary shelter as well as educational opportunities for the personal, social, and economic growth of all members of the homeless families.  Once housed and self-sufficient, it is hoped that these individuals and their families will continue to recognize their own unique dignity, value, and self worth as they work towards the fulfillment of their goals and their own personal potential.