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Thousands idolize Mimi Silbert for her contagious spirit and persistent belief in self-sufficiency.
Her following includes ex-convicts, former gang members, heroin and crack addicts and prostitutes.
Silbert, 65, founded the Delancey Street Foundation — a rehabilitative home for hundreds of people with troubled pasts— in 1971 with the late John Maher, who was an ex-felon.
They wanted to create something “that would be run entirely by the people who were the problems in society” to provide an alternative to prison, said Sandra Munőz, a 10-year resident of Delancey Street and former heroin addict and ex-convict.
Silbert, a criminal psychologist, lives within the Delancey Street complex and works with its residents daily.
“She’s like an angel. She does it because it’s truly in her heart. She could be anywhere in the world … but Mimi chooses to live here with us, be here with us and teach us,” Munőz said. “I want to be just like her.”
More than 14,000 residents with violent and addictive pasts have graduated from Delancey Street moving on to restore family lives and to find respectable jobs within the community. Each resident leaves with at least a high school diploma and three marketable job skills.
“I think it makes an amazing difference in rehabilitation. It turns them into model citizens who are contributing and making a difference in our society,” said Gwen Mazer, a San Francisco-based image consultant and author of the recently published “Wise Talk, Wild Women,” which profiled Silbert.
Mazer, who has known Silbert for more than 20 years, said she remembers when Delancey Street was a single home with less than five residents.
“I’m just constantly amazed at what is accomplished,” she said.
Empowerment is key to Delancey Street, Munőz said.
“Mimi believes we are all teachers,” she said. “So when the newest person comes through the door, we act as the counselors, as the mentors, that sort of thing for all of our folks.”
Delancey Street’s conception stemmed from Silbert’s childhood and experience as an immigrant family in New York attempting to figure out their new world.
“She found that the process of ‘each one, teach one’ really works,” Mazer said. “She believes the kernel of good in each person will ultimately prevail.”
Gary Dockery, 29, a former gang member and heroin addict, affirmed the “blind faith” Silbert had in him.
“She knows what I used to be like, and it doesn’t even matter. She took me in anyways and gave me chance,” he said. “That was just like … there’s nothing else out there. It’s like not willing to let a person down that’s just giving your life back.”
Dockery faced life in prison for a hate crime. He has been at Delancey Street for 18 months working in construction.
“Mimi’s like mom to me. She truly is,” he said, smiling. “When she comes up to hug you, you can just feel the love. She just believes in us.”
Federal Judge Thelton Henderson, who is a member of the support group called the Delancey Circle, said he finds her formidable presence among Delancey Street residents remarkable.
“She’s under 5 feet tall, but just a whirlwind of energy,” Henderson said. “To see her in the meetings with mostly these guys who are big, often over 6 feet tall … she just says ‘jump’ and they say ‘how high?’ ”
Henderson said he has sent mostly drug abusers to Delancey Street and beyond that, visits the complex regularly to talk about overcoming a criminal environment.
San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi said Silbert’s program reflects her integrity and belief in self-sufficiency.
“There are very few organizations that provide the kind of comprehensive services that Delancey Street does,” he said. “What Mimi has believed is that anyone can make it and provide for themselves.”
Silbert provides a clean slate for crime-ridden people, said Raquel Pinderhughes, director of the Delancey Street and San Francisco State University joint college program.
“She really has an extraordinary capacity to inspire people, to motivate and to help them reach their dreams and realize their potential,” Pinderhughes said. “She is a woman on a mission and that mission is to repair as many lives as is possible. She is committed to every person who comes through that door.”
At Delancey Street, about 500 residents work from 8 a.m. to about 11 p.m. at a full-time job among other interpersonal tasks.
“Everyone starts at the bottom, and you work your way up,” Pinderhughes said. “Through hard work, you are rewarded not only externally by being able to rise in the program and do more, but by feeling confident in your abilities.”
Delancey Street is a non-profit organization, meaning nobody, including Silbert, pockets a dime.
“Everybody pitches in, and nobody gets paid. The reward is you get to experience success and helping others to it,” Pinderhughes said. “In a capitalist society, that kind of message and experience is unheard of.”
Robert Mansfield, a graduate of both Delancey Street and its college program, said he managed Crossroads Café and ran the credit department at Delancey Street, while also working in Silbert’s office.
“She’s probably the most incredible person on Earth quite frankly,” Mansfield said. “There’s no reason in the world for her to do what she’s doing. She’s not getting paid at all. It’s just so people like I can have a chance.”
And it seems that’s all Silbert needs.
“I think she gets a true satisfaction being a part of and watching people change and grow,” Sandra Munőz said. “If she can save one of our lives, she’s done her job. Mimi is somebody who has everything to do with making the entire world a better place.”
