Larkin Street Youth Services

Larkin Street provides youth between the ages of 12 and 24 with the help they need to rebuild their lives. Each year, more than 3,000 youth walk through our doors seeking help. We give them a place where they can feel safe; rebuild their sense of self-respect, trust, and hope; learn school, life and job skills; and find the confidence to build a future.

Larkin Street was founded in 1984 by a group of local business owners, church members, and neighbors who were concerned by the rising number of young people engaging in risky behaviors on the streets of San Francisco. With comprehensive youth service programs located throughout San Francisco, Larkin Street Youth Services is now an internationally recognized model successfully integrating housing, education, employment and health services to get homeless and at-risk youth off the streets.

We raise the bar by redefining success from securing independent housing to achieving a permanent pathway out of poverty. We have established bold goals for the youth in our services:

• Living-wage employment
• Two years of post-secondary education
• Safe and stable housing
• Physical and emotional wellbeing