Kevin F. Adler

About

Kevin F. Adler is the author of When We Walk By: Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending Homelessness in America, which will be published on November 7th, 2023, and is based on his pioneering work over the past decade tackling homelessness and “relational poverty” on the streets.

As the Founder and CEO of Miracle Messages, an award-winning nonprofit organization that helps people experiencing homelessness rebuild their social support systems and financial security, Kevin is leading a revolution in how we treat our unhoused neighbors: as people to be loved, not problems to be solved. Miracle Messages has helped over 800 unhoused individuals reunite with their loved ones, matched hundreds more for weekly calls and texts with caring volunteers around the world as phone buddies, and created the first basic income pilot of its kind in the United States, which resulted in 66% of unhoused recipients getting housed. By 2024, Miracle Messages plans to distribute over $1 million directly to unhoused individuals, as part of a randomized control trial in partnership with USC and with major funding from Google.org and others.

Kevin’s transformative work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, PBS NewsHour, Los Angeles Times, CNN, on a billboard in Times Square, and in his TED Talk. An in-demand public speaker, Kevin has given talks at The Commonwealth Club, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Google, UC Berkeley, and more. Kevin has been honored as a Presidential Leadership Scholar, TED Resident, MassChallenge winner, SXSW Community Service Award winner, Singularity University Graduate Studies Program participant, and Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar.

Kevin’s first book, Natural Disasters as a Catalyst for Social Capital, explores how shared traumas can bring communities together or tear them apart. Previously, Kevin co-founded three education technology startups: a venture studio focused on the education ecosystem (acquired), an online fundraising platform for underserved schools (acquired), and a “College 101” online mentoring nonprofit. Kevin received his MPhil in Sociology from the University of Cambridge and his BA in Politics from Occidental College, where he was the Erica J. Murray '01 Young Alumnus/a of the Year Award recipient in 2018, and where President Obama's favorite professor said, "in 40 years of teaching, Kevin is the single best student I’ve ever had.” Motivated by his late mother’s work teaching at underserved adult schools and nursing homes, and his late uncle’s 30 years living on and off the streets, Kevin believes in a future where everyone is seen as invaluable and interconnected.

Policy Interests

• Housing & Urban Policy
• Civil/Human Rights
• Communication and Media
• Democracy
• Design Thinking
• Economic and Community Development
• Education
• Innovation
• Leadership and Management
• Organizational Behavior/Learning
• Politics
• Poverty & Inequality
• Social Psychology
• Social Welfare
• Stereotyping, Prejudice & Discrimination