ROTARY LUNCHEON: Del Seymour and Code Tenderloin

Del Seymour shares his journey as an African American Vietnam veteran who was chronically homeless and incarcerated for 18 years to his recovery and founding of Code Tenderloin in 2015.

Moving to the Tenderloin in his mid-40s, Del spiraled down into drug addiction. At age 62, he got clean thanks to the help of San Francisco native Walter Hughes, a financial consultant and an elder at the San Francisco Christian Center in the Tenderloin. Hughes ran across Del while doing outreach at a neighborhood park, gave Del a suit and a business card, and invited him to church that Sunday. Del went that Sunday and Hughes got him a place to live in the Tenderloin. The church paid his rent until he could get housing through the Veterans Administration. To get off drugs, Del chose a model of recovery at Glide,

In Del’s last days of homelessness and substance abuse, he drove a cab. “I enjoyed being a tour guide and earned big tips.” One day, he got three parking tickets. “That killed my insurance, so I started thinking what I could do that would be like telling people about the city but without a car?” That’s when he got the idea for Tenderloin Walking Tours.

Because Del had lived in Tenderloin for almost two decades, he knew the neighborhood inside and out. He knew all the hotel workers, service people, restaurant and store owners. “I love San Francisco history.” He took to going to the library everyday to read the archives. Del created Walking Tours from nothing and nine years later, it’s still in business. “I tell people how the Tenderloin played a part in the LGBTQ movement, in the legendary jazz scene and as a theater locale.” He started with a 90-minute tour and has since added the TenderNob Pub Crawl, which is mentioned in “Lonely Planet,” as well as group tours for schools, nonprofits, and tech companies. 

As Del was conducting his tours and meeting more and more people, locals described him as “the brother that brought white folks into the neighborhood.” He used that platform as entrée into the tech world. “The tech companies weren’t integrating with the neighborhood as far as job development, recruitment, and placement and so I challenged them.”

Del founded Code Tenderloin in 2015. Code Tenderloin prepares participants to succeed in the workplace with a curriculum that covers technical skills, soft skills such as learning the culture of the workplace, interview preparation, resumé creation, one-on-one mentorship, and off-site programs led by some of the best tech companies in the Bay Area. Today, Code Tenderloin is funded by the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, with additional funding from foundations and tech companies such as Dolby, Twitter, and Microsoft. LinkedIn, Uber, and Salesforce provide classroom space and teaching instruction. 

Del has been on the coordinating board for the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing since 2014, a volunteer position that takes him back and forth to Washington, D.C. – expenses paid by the city – to work with mayors to mitigate homelessness. Nicknamed “Mayor of the Tenderloin” for his contributions, Del acted in former SF Mayor Lee’s stead when he visited the White House in November 2016 with 35 mayors from around the country, to discuss how to help homeless veterans. Del met Michelle Obama. “We’re both ‘Southies’ from Chicago.”

Del Seymour and Mayor Ed Lee announced 33 dedicated units for chronically homeless veterans at 528 Valencia Street on November 10, 2016. Photo courtesy of SFGate

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