Shirley Raines (non-profit founder)

Shirley Raines is the founder of the non-profit Beauty 2 the Streetz, which provides hair and makeup services, food, clothing, hygiene and safety items to thousands of homeless people in Skid Row, Los Angeles. In 2021, she was chosen to be the CNN Hero of the Year.

Biography
Raines grew up in Compton, California. In 1990, her two-year-old son, Demetrius, died of accidental poisoning while staying with Raines's grandmother. For decades following this, Raines struggled with financial insecurity, grief, and loss. Following this loss, she found that self-care and beautification helped her face her grief. In 2017, when on a feeding mission on Skid Row with her church group, Raines found a "purpose for her pain," seeing a connection with the experience of the Skid Row community members. Her personal style garnered interest from the homeless residents she was serving. At the time, she was working as a medical biller.

Raines and her children regularly returned to Skid Row, helping to hand out food, drinks, hygiene kits and beauty products that Raines funded. Raines returned alone to color people's hair and do their makeup. When Raines began livestreaming the events and posting pictures to her the Beauty 2 the Streetz Instagram and TikTok pages, her efforts gained popularity, and Raines was contacted by licensed hair stylists, barbers, makeup artists and makeup companies who wanted to join her work.

In 2019, Raines registered Beauty 2 the Streetz as a 501(c)(3) organization. When the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, Raines shifted the priorities of Beauty 2 the Streetz to adapt to the changing needs, working with health services to turn their outpost into a COVID testing and vaccination site and providing PPE and education along with the food and other supplies Beauty 2 the Streetz normally provided. Raines also advocated for the homeless community, who had minimal access to important hygiene resources.

In 2021, she was chosen to be the CNN Hero of the Year. In 2022, Raines was one of 17 activists who shared the stage with Lizzo upon accepting the People's Choice Awards for "The People's Champion."