{"id":42781,"date":"2025-07-06T07:17:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T07:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/42781\/"},"modified":"2025-07-06T07:17:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T07:17:12","slug":"showing-up-with-heart-walter-philips-retires-after-25-years-as-sd-youth-services-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/42781\/","title":{"rendered":"Showing up ‘with heart’ \u2014 Walter Philips retires after 25 years as SD Youth Services CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Walter Philips. (Photo courtesy of San Diego Youth Services)<\/p>\n

The fluorescent lights in San Diego Youth Services\u2019 nondescript Loma Portal offices flicker. Then they shut off completely, leaving Walter Philips, who retired<\/a> June 30 after 25 years as the social service provider\u2019s CEO, backlit by the glow of afternoon sunshine. <\/p>\n

A moment later, they pop back on.<\/p>\n

Philips sits in a colleague\u2019s office and quips that he\u2019s gotten the boot. He\u2019s made room for incoming CEO Jonathan Castillo, who assumes responsibility for a $33 million operating budget and the work of providing food, shelter, transitional housing, job training, mental health care and other services to 14,000 at-risk youth annually.<\/p>\n

Early in his career, Philips had no intention of becoming the CEO of SDYS.<\/p>\n

After earning a master\u2019s degree in social work from San Diego State, he worked at nonprofits focused on supporting youth and family mental health \u2014 which he said was his passion.<\/p>\n

During those years, Philips served on a board with the previous CEO of SDYS, who told him the position was opening up. <\/p>\n

When the outgoing CEO explained the organization\u2019s goals, Philips said it sounded awesome to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI threw my hat in the ring and got lucky enough to get hired 25 years ago, and it\u2019s been the best decision I made for my career,\u201d Philips said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a great fit in terms of the values, the culture, the mission and the services we provide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Philips said a profound conversation with Father Joe Carroll<\/a> \u2014 the namesake of the homeless service provider Father Joe\u2019s Villages<\/a> \u2014 shaped his thinking about youth homelessness.<\/p>\n

According to Philips, Carroll told him that service providers like SDYS are in competition with pimps, drug dealers and other abusers for kids spending their first night on the streets. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to get those kids off the streets first,\u201d Philips said. \u201cBecause they\u2019re at a high risk for all of those things when they\u2019re on the streets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Early in his career, Philips said he built relationships with the more seasoned CEOs who ran SDYS\u2019s partner agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI developed relationships with them, I met with them regularly, we partnered together, and I learned from them,\u201d Philips said. \u201cAnd I was young \u2014 much younger than I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>An avid cyclist, Philips biked from San Francisco to San Diego in a week earlier this year to raise awareness for youth homelessness. (Photo courtesy of San Diego Youth Services)<\/p>\n

Philips said for many years, SDYS was the only service provider in San Diego focused on youth homelessness. <\/p>\n

He said that was because of fairly limited funding prior to 2017, when most of the organization\u2019s money came from Federal Youth Service Bureau<\/a> grants intended to shelter youth, conduct street outreach and house foster youth transitioning into adulthood.<\/p>\n

Things changed in 2017, Philips said, after a national initiative called the Voices of Youth Count<\/a> chose San Diego as a pilot city to better understand youth homelessness. <\/p>\n

That year, the study concluded that 1 in 10 young adults nationwide experienced some form of homelessness over a year-long period, and that LGBTQ youth were twice as likely to experience homelessness as their peers.<\/p>\n

In partnership with the YMCA and the San Diego LGBT Community Center, SDYS runs the LGBTQ Safe STAY Wellness Center, which provides shelter and services for young adults and connects them to case managers.<\/p>\n

As of 2024<\/a>, the wellness center has helped 11 young adults successfully transition into their own housing. <\/p>\n

Beth Davenport, the COO of the San Diego LGBT Community Center, said that throughout his career, Philips has been a fierce advocate, a steady presence and a source of hope for young people who need someone in their corner. <\/p>\n

\u201cHis work has changed lives, not just through policy or programs, but through the way he has shown up with heart, integrity and a deep belief in every young person\u2019s worth,\u201d Davenport said.<\/p>\n

According to Davenport, Philips\u2019 impact has been immeasurable. <\/p>\n

\u201cWalter\u00a0has been a personal source of mentorship and guidance for me.\u00a0Walter\u2019s wisdom, kindness, humor and unwavering belief in doing what\u2019s right have shaped not only my path, but the paths of so many others, including our clients at the San Diego LGBT Community Center,\u201d Davenport said. \u201cAs\u00a0Walter\u00a0retires, I just want to say thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to SDYS\u2019s most recent<\/a> annual report in 2023, roughly 82% percent of SDYS\u2019s annual expenses went towards program costs, 16% was used on administrative and general costs and 2% went to fundraising. <\/p>\n

The organization uses what Philips calls a \u201cno wrong-door philosophy,\u201d where youth and young adults get the services they need, no matter what.<\/p>\n

Philips said there\u2019s a sense of urgency in addressing youth homelessness, because each night a young person spends on the streets or couch surfing makes it more likely for them to fall into a bad situation.<\/p>\n

People work and volunteer at SDYS, he said, because they care, and want to make a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to have an impact on \u2014 making sure \u2014 that youth have a brighter future and have the opportunities to succeed,\u201d Philips said. \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Walter Philips. (Photo courtesy of San Diego Youth Services) The fluorescent lights in San Diego Youth Services\u2019 nondescript…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":42782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,33573,33574,7265,700,3549,33575,33576,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,33577],"class_list":{"0":"post-42781","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-father-joe-carroll","12":"tag-homeless-youth","13":"tag-homelessness","14":"tag-retirement","15":"tag-san-diego","16":"tag-san-diego-lgbt-community-center","17":"tag-san-diego-youth-services","18":"tag-sandiego","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa","25":"tag-walter-philips"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114805069891620657","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}