On a Sunday in November 1991 Scott Silverman was feeding the homeless at St. Vincent de Paul as he had done every Sunday for a year. Counselors had advised him that helping others is an important step in recovery for his alcohol and drug addictions.
This day was also the beginning of something extraordinary.
Striking up a conversation with a homeless man named Frank, Silverman asked if he wanted a job. Frank said yes, but added that no one would hire him. “Well,” Silverman responded, “have you looked in a mirror, lately?”
With Silverman’s guidance over time Frank got cleaned up, completed job applications and learned to interview. He was hired at McDonald’s.
As word got out about Frank’s job, Silverman was asked every Sunday for help.
He believed he was on to something and approached several local nonprofits with the idea of establishing a job-assistance program. They declined.
Undeterred, Silverman went to the library and learned about nonprofits. He borrowed money from a friend and, in 1993, created a nonprofit called Second Chance.
“The idea was to help people stay sober, get work and leave the social service loop,” Silverman said. “They needed housing and job opportunities.”
The program started slowly. “We rented a house for six people,” Silverman said. “We told them your skin in the game is your commitment, working on your recovery and doing what your employer asks.”
“We required participants to remain clean and sober.”
In 1997 Silverman broadened participation to helping those released from prison rebuild their lives. Based upon a comparable program in Harlem, Second Chance offered an intensive two-week class with a curriculum. Those who graduated and remained clean and sober received assistance with housing and the kind of guidance Silverman provided Frank. As they earned money, they would pay rent or find new housing and continue on their way to self-sufficiency.
Second Chance grew. It attracted increased private funding, referrals from probation and parole officers and from businesses willing to hire participants. By 2003, Second Chance graduated about 700 participants. By 2008, it had 45 employees (32 of whom were former inmates) and owned nine properties, including residential and an ice cream parlor staffed by former inmates.
Today, Second Chance is well-known as a respected and effective program. Among its board of directors are prominent community leaders, including San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore. It’s stated mission is “to disrupt cycles of incarceration and poverty by helping people find their way to self-sufficiency.”
In 2019, it helped more than 2,000 youth and adult participants.
Silverman, who left Second Chance in 2010, has won various recognitions for his role in creating the nonprofit, including a CNN “Hero” award.
Most satisfying to Silverman is the feeling that he made a mark in helping people help themselves. “I took something from nothing and built it,” he said. “It feels great to see a graduate succeed.”
He has come a long way from his own dark days. Profiled a “problem child” growing up in San Diego, he began with drugs and alcohol at age 16. By his mid-20s, he was a regular drunk at bars, often blacked out and kicked out from places for causing disturbances. “I experimented with anything I could get my hands on,” he said.
At 30, he came within inches of jumping off a 44-story building. That was his “wakeup call” and, with encouragement from his wife Michelle — whom he married two years earlier — he obtained treatment in 1984.
Silverman, now 66 living in La Jolla, says he has been clean and sober for 36 years. The Silvermans, married 38 years, have two grown children. He still attends Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and sponsors addicts.
After leaving Second Chance, he created two more nonprofits and Confidential Recovery, an outpatient substance abuse program. He has served on eight nonprofit boards of directors, appears regularly on television, conducts a podcast and has written two books. His latest, “The Opioid Epidemic,” has just been released.
He says no one should avoid these three words: “I need help.”
“Make the phone call,” he said. “There is help out there.”
About this series
Jan Goldsmith is a former member of the U-T Community Advisory Board. He is an attorney and former law partner, judge, state legislator, San Diego city attorney and Poway mayor.
Someone San Diego Should Know is a weekly column written by of the U-T’s Community Advisory Board about local people who are interesting and noteworthy because of their experiences, achievements, creativity or credentials.
