Delancey Street is considered a prominent residential self-help organization for substance abusers, ex-convicts, homeless, and many others who have been trapped in poverty. Delancey Street, San Francisco is a 370,000 square foot self-built, self-managed, self-help complex constructed primarily by and for Delancey Residents. Covering an entire city block, the complex contains retail stores, restaurants, cafes, bookstores, vocational schools, and over 500 housing units. The complex offers vocational training programs that have provided over 300 previously unemployable people skill training in purchasing, contracting, computer, and accounting services. Started in 1971 with 4 people in a San Francisco apartment, Delancey Street’s program, which, in addition to skill training, helps residents to receive a high school equivalency degree (GED), has now graduated over 18,000 people in 5 locations across the United States.