Eileen Richardson

CEO

Eileen has been building and refining a non-conforming solution to homelessness, called Downtown Streets Team for close to 15 years. She has relentlessly pursued her vision to build positive communities which include and empower unhoused people throughout Northern CA.

A secretary, and a single mother of two young children, the odds were stacked against her, but Eileen did not let anything stand in the way of her dreams. Her street smarts, business acumen and ambition led to an incredible career - 15 years in the high-tech industry - 10 as a venture capitalist and 5 as CEO of two high tech companies. It was Eileen’s love of music and belief that the internet could change the world that led her to be the become the first CEO of Napster, where she helped grow the infamous startup from a few thousand users to 20 million--the fastest growing brand in history at the time.

With her children in high school, Eileen decided to take a break from the world of fast-paced high tech and began volunteering at a food pantry in Palo Alto. It was there she fell in love with the men and women there, and at the same time witnessed the loss of dignity and the toll it took on these individuals who were living on the streets.

Guided by the principle that everyone deserved the opportunity to become a proud, productive member of their community, and driven to reduce the impacts of homelessness, such as litter and panhandling, on the community and downtown areas, Eileen launched the very first Downtown Streets Team (DST) in 2005.

Over the years, Eileen has relentlessly pursued this vision to build positive communities which include and empower unhoused people throughout Northern CA. Since its inception, DST has grown from serving four Team Members (homeless volunteers), a $45,000 annual budget, and Eileen as the sole employee to an agency with an annual budget of $8M operating Teams in over a dozen cities in eight counties in California and two satellite operations in Florida, and serves 1000+ Team Members a year.

Eileen’s model used in every DST Team offers volunteer opportunities and wrap-around services to help individuals experiencing homelessness (Team Members) rebuild their lives, opening the door for permanent housing and long-term employment. Team Members beautify the cities they volunteer in for up to 20 hours per week and receive case management, job training, employment services, and basic-needs stipends to transition from homelessness to productive lives back in their communities. This approach renews dignity and provides opportunities for personal and professional growth among its Team Members.

DST has been named one of only five ‘Evidence-Based Best Practices in Ending Homelessness’ in the State of California according to the 2018 Homelessness Task Force Report released by the League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties and is nearing its 2000th success story. The program has also been named a ‘Top 50 Innovation in American Government’ by the Ash Institute at Harvard’s Kennedy School and has been acknowledged by city leadership in every city it operates in as “outstanding, best in class or innovative “.

For her pioneering leadership at the helm of DST, Eileen has also been recognized as an influential visionary. In the Spring of 2018 Eileen was named one of 30 Visionaries by the New York Times, using innovative technology for good; she has been named a Paul Harris Rotary Fellow; and recognized with the ‘Athena Lifetime Achievement Award’ in 2015 by the Chamber of Commerce in Palo Alto. Most recently, Eileen is being recognized as a winner of the 2019 James Irvine Leadership Award.

As a leader in the world of nonprofit employment, DST has also been recognized as an outstanding place to work and has received numerous ‘Best Nonprofit to Work For’ awards from The Nonprofit Times. Eileen is the mother of two, and grandmother of two. She lives in Mountain View, CA and studied both Accounting and Business Administration at St. Thomas Aquinas College.

Her belief remains: every person deserves, needs and wants a meaningful position in their community and that unhoused people are the solution to homelessness.

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