From Experience to Action: A New Vision for Homeless Services with Dr. Ryan Smith

Season 2, Episode 7

In this compelling episode of Doing What Works: Innovations in Homeless Services, we sit down with Dr. Ryan Smith, President and CEO of St. Joseph Center in Los Angeles. With a personal history of youth homelessness, Dr. Smith shares how his lived experience shapes his professional mission to create a more compassionate and effective homeless services system. From the formative influence of his mother to his first job as a youth organizer at 15, Dr. Smith recounts the journey that led him to lead one of LA’s most impactful service organizations. He walks us through the four foundational pillars of St. Joseph Center—Housing, Outreach, Mental Health, and Economic Mobility—and explains why investing in frontline workers and replicating community college programs like SMC’s Homeless Services Certificate are essential steps to ending homelessness. This episode is both a call to action and a testament to the power of care, dignity, and workforce development in driving sustainable change.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

  • What “HOME” really stands for in effective homeless services.

  • Why the workforce is the most overlooked—and urgent—solution to homelessness.

  • How St. Joseph Center empowers through housing, outreach, mental health, and job training.

  • Why creating a career pipeline from community colleges could be a national model.

  • What it takes to build a movement rooted in dignity, faith, and real-world leadership.

About Our Guest

Dr. Ryan Smith is the President and CEO of St. Joseph Center, a nonprofit serving unhoused and low-income individuals across Los Angeles. A former youth organizer and first-generation college student, Dr. Smith holds a doctorate in education and a BA in political science from UCLA. With a career spanning decades in nonprofit leadership, education, and advocacy, he brings a personal and systemic lens to the fight against homelessness. Under his leadership, St. Joseph Center serves more than 15,000 people annually with programs spanning housing, mental health, and workforce development. Dr. Smith is also a champion of equity-driven education and a passionate supporter of programs that train the next generation of human services professionals.

Episode Resources

Transcript and additional resources below.