Ralph Payton

Ralph Payton‘s commitment to social justice and underserved communities spans a career of more than 18 years directing nonprofit human service programs across the country. From 2015 - 2018, Ralph was the Executive Director of Raphael House, an organization that operates San Francisco’s largest shelter for families experiencing homelessness. Prior to that appointment, he was the director of Hamilton Families’ family shelter, a nonprofit agency in San Francisco that provides shelter, housing placement and support services for hundreds of homeless families in the Bay Area.

Prior to moving to San Francisco in 2011, he lived in New York City where he directed a large family shelter for many years and then went on to direct an alternative high school, both in the South Bronx. He started his career in homeless services in Miami, Florida where he supervised one of the largest men’s shelters in the area. 

Ralph was appointed in 2016 by San Francisco’s late Mayor Lee to co-chair San Francisco’s Local Homeless Coordinating Board, which is the lead entity for the San Francisco Continuum of Care on Homelessness. The Local Homeless Coordinating Board works to ensure a unified homeless strategy that is supported by the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, City departments, nonprofit agencies, people who are homeless or formerly homeless and the community at large. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the University of San Francisco’s Master of Nonprofit Administration Program.

Ralph earned a Master of Clinical Psychology from Nova Southeastern University in South Florida and a Bachelor of Science in Counseling Psychology from Andrews University in Michigan.