Model and Strategy
On any given night in San Francisco, more than 1,300 young people sleep on our streets or in shelters. These youth are disconnected from their families, most often due to abuse or rejection, and many have been out of school or work for an extended time.
Larkin Street Youth Services’ vision is to prevent and end youth homelessness. Rather than address a single need like food or shelter, we nurture potential and promote dignity by integrating more than 350 beds of housing with robust education, employment, and health services.
In addition to being an issue of affordability, homelessness is also an intersectional issue that disproportionately impacts youth of color, LGBTQ-identified youth, and those with histories of systems involvement. Larkin Street applies an equity lens to our work, offering an array of housing options and support services tailored to meet the needs of these overrepresented groups.
We also recognize that young people with lived experience of homelessness are the true experts. Youth are directly involved in shaping our policies, practices, and services through regular client focus groups, a semi-annual survey, and a formal Youth Advisory Board.
Impact
Over the next four years, the successful completion of Rising Up will fundamentally change the landscape of homelessness in San Francisco. Half of San Francisco’s homeless population first experienced homelessness before the age of 25. If we permanently break the cycle of poverty for a young person, we are ensuring that they do not become one of San Francisco’s 5,500 chronically homeless adults. Investing in young people not only saves lives and changes their trajectories, it will also ultimately reduce chronic homelessness in San Francisco.
In these early stages of Rising Up, Larkin Street is focused on increasing both our direct service and our administrative capacity. The key to our impact is our wrap-around model, so introducing new beds at this magnitude will require significant expansion in our programs.
This year, we will increase staffing and strengthen services in Larkin Street Academy, which provides education (GED tutoring, college preparation, and college success) and employment support (job-readiness, technical training, and job placement). We will also build clinical capacity in our behavioral health program, which provides mental health and substance use services. Most importantly, we will engage our Youth Advisory Board and research and evaluation team to ensure that service design and implementation is driven by youth voice and data. A grant from Battery Powered would support this capacity building work significantly, laying the foundation for us to achieve the ambitious but imperative goals of Rising Up.
Leadership
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Sherilyn Adams
Executive Director
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Terry Kramer
Board Chair