Mimi Halper Silbert PhD

Dr. Mimi Halper Silbert. Delancey Street Foundation, which Dr. Karl Menninger called “The best and most successful rehabilitation program I have studied in the world,” serves ex-felons, prostitutes, substance abusers and others who have hit bottom. Locations include New York, Massachusetts, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Los Angeles and is headquartered in San Francisco, with all residents living drug, crime and alcohol free. For 46 years, Delancey Street, a residential educational community, has provided residents with academic, vocational, and social skills, and the discipline, values, and attitudes they need to live in society legitimately and successfully – at no cost to the client or taxpayer. There are currently over 20,000 successful graduates. Silbert lives in Delancey Street, abides by its rules, where everyone functions as an extended family, sharing everything. There is no staff and all functions are performed solely by the residents without ever an expert helping. Although the residents are often violent long-term gang members who have been in and out of prison most of their lives, hard core addicts where the average resident has dropped out of school at sixth grade, is functionally illiterate, and has never even worked at an unskilled job for more than three months, Silbert believes that they can become their own solution to these problems. Delancey Street’s approach is to develop their strengths rather than to focus on their problems. With no staff and no government funding, these residents have not only turned their own lives around, but have built the entire organization.