Doing What Works
Doing What Works
Podcast Description
Doing What Works dives into pressing societal and environmental challenges through insightful discussions and expert interviews. Each season brings a fresh, educational perspective on complex issues, empowering listeners to think critically about creating meaningful change
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on urgent topics like homelessness, environmental sustainability, and social justice, with episodes such as the one featuring Becky Denison discussing innovations in homeless services and systemic causes like housing unaffordability and institutional racism, emphasizing community-driven solutions.
Doing What Works dives into pressing societal and environmental challenges through insightful discussions and expert interviews. Each season brings a fresh, educational perspective on complex issues, empowering listeners to think critically about creating meaningful change
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.
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