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THE FIRST THING THAT STRIKES YOU about Sherilyn Adams is that she rarely says “I” when explaining her role as Executive Director for Larkin Street Youth Services, a San Francisco nonprofit that focuses on helping homeless youth. Instinctively she prefers “we”—as in, “We started a new program,” or “We really wanted to meet the needs of that population of youth.”
Asked about this, Sherilyn insists it’s simply that Larkin Street is blessed with creative staff and an amazing Board. The shared energy is what attracted her to the agency back in 2003, she says, and what made her so enthusiastic two years later about being promoted to her current post: “It really is about the collective and not the individual.”
But ask anyone else who knows Sherilyn, and they will tell you that collaborative energy is something she’s elicited her entire career. And they’ll add that not only Larkin Street, but the city and beyond that the state, are lucky to have had such a powerful advocate for so long for youth, at-risk women, and abused children. A track record of successful innovation that goes back 20 years is no accident.
At Child and Family Institute, in Sacramento, Sherilyn developed statewide workshops for child abuse prevention. At the Chemical Dependency Center for Women, also in Sacramento, she developed one of the first programs to provide intensive counseling in a shelter context for pregnant women and mothers with substance abuse issues.
At Larkin Street, the focus is on the fast-growing problem of homeless youth. Teens often became homeless because of abuse or neglect. Without access to education, consistent adult role models, or jobs, they quickly become marginalized, in danger of disconnecting permanently. Since Sherilyn took over, Larkin Street has added new, effective, and replicable programs to help. These include mobile rapid HIV testing, studio apartments combined with support services to help former foster kids learn the skills of independent living, combined housing and wraparound support for youth with mental illness, and more. Beyond this, there is Sherilyn’s constant advocacy for homeless youth as a member of city, Bay Area, and state boards.
And that’s the second thing that strikes you about Sherilyn—how fiercely she wants us to come to our senses and give disadvantaged youth the chance they deserve. “It’s so amazing that some of these kids are still here, still standing up,” she says. “We need to get beyond blaming youth for the hand they were dealt. We need to become a country that actually values them and puts a priority on their success.”
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