Homeboy Industries: "Nothing Stops a Bullet Like a Job"

It's hard to miss Homeboy Industries. Surrounded by anonymous, gray-faced factory buildings in downtown Los Angeles, the $8.5-million building shines with golden hues and grand windows. It is certainly not hidden.

However, Homeboy Industries is more than just a building. It is more than a complex, even. It is a community unto itself.

Outside the structure, on a warm Friday afternoon in early September, a handful of teens use long water-fed poles to ensure that the windows continue to sparkle. Opening the front doors, one enters a magnificent lobby packed with people - Latino adults, primarily - awaiting help with various services. At the front desk, the waiting list is loaded with names - but those who sit in the air-conditioned space, watching CNN, do not seem to mind.

The people are primarily here for job counseling, but that program is only one slice of the big pie. Other services located at Homeboy Industries include, but are certainly not limited to: mental-health and legal counseling; tattoo removal (4,000 laser treatments are conducted each year); classes (driver's education, English as a second language, etc.); 12-step meetings; and case management.

That's not to mention the companies - all staffed by reformed gang members - that are contained within the structure and help pay the bills: a bakery, a café, a gift store, a maintenance division and a silk-screening operation.

Together, these components lay the foundation for a community that revolves around ex-gang members but welcomes anyone who is in need. And, as founder and director Fr. Gregory Boyle says, "community always trumps gang."

Given the various facets of the operation, it would be easy to assume that Homeboy Industries is self-sustaining. But that is by no means true, and this year in particular has presented some seemingly insurmountable financial challenges. Earlier this year, the organization faced a $1.3 million shortfall, and on May 13 - what the community has dubbed "Black Thursday" - 330 of its 427 employees, including senior staff, were let go.

That day was heartbreaking for Fr. Boyle, as were the days that followed. He suffered through agonizing days and restless nights, worrying about the fate of his dismissed employees, clients - and, of course, the young men and women who comprise the largest gang-intervention program in the country.

But a funny thing happened on the way to bankruptcy. Every one of the 330 employees who were laid off returned to work the following Monday - without expecting to be paid a cent. And, following a cry for help that resounded in the pages of the Los Angeles Times, the NPR airwaves and beyond, the donations began rolling in, and 100 employees were rehired.

"In 45 days, we were able to bring in $3.5 million," says Boyle, whose office isn't located on the second floor but rather smack-dab in the middle of the lobby. Battling a yawn, he adds, "We didn't really stop any service or any of our businesses," even though some counseling programs were close to extinction and critical promised funds from the city have been put on hold."

As he is pleasantly interrupted by various young employees (or, as they're more lovingly known, "Homies") delivering various messages - not to mention phone calls, text messages and e-mails - it quickly becomes evident that Fr. Boyle's efforts haven't slowed down. When he isn't conducting interviews - this is his third of the day, and it's only 2 p.m. - he is setting up future meetings, putting out various fires and autographing copies of his recently released memoir, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion. Long in the works, the book has been boosted by a speaking-engagement tour, critical acclaim and a spot on the bestseller list.

It's a pace will likely continue for the foreseeable future. In order to make ends meet, Homeboy Industries needs to raise $4 million a year, in part to help sustain the complex that was erected five years ago after the previous location burned down in an electrical fire. An additional $10 million would be required in order for the organization to reach what Fr. Boyle calls its "fullness."

"We used to be at 427 [employees]," he says. However, "I wouldn't even advocate that we'd return to that. I'd be more inclined to have 300."

Of course, that isn't because Fr. Boyle wants Homeboy Industries to reach fewer souls. To the contrary: He believes a leaner, more efficient organization would actually help more people. His goal is to see a faster turnaround - more Homies coming in the door but also more Homies being healed and going back into the world.

In Los Angeles County, there are 1,100 identified gangs, which translates into 70,000-80,000 people at any given time. Homeboy has seen and served people from a minimum of 800 of those gangs.

"This place is about attachment repair," he explains. "We're not keeping them from joining gangs - they already have. We want to restore them to the community."

But restoring former gang members to the general society is a two-way street, Fr. Boyle is quick to remind. When asked about his pastoral approach toward bringing together a perpetrator with a victim or a victim's family, he says: "Find me somebody who's not a victim here. There is not one single exception - they've all been victimized. And victims groups don't like to hear that. The point around here is how you transform pain so you don't [create more victims]."

Along those same lines, Fr. Boyle expressed his disappointment in the fate of SB 399. "It's just horrible that it failed," he lamented. "[I know] a kid named Eric who got 255 years for a crime he committed at 15 years old. We are the only country on earth that sentences juveniles to life behind bars."

"We have a class on restorative justice, but that's mainly about connecting perpetrators with victims. If disorganized attachment is their dilemma, then they come here, and they're held unconditionally with great acceptance. And then we help them get back on their feet."

According to Director of Development Mona G. Hobson, CFRE, "Our purpose is to employ the most vulnerable, the ones least likely to find employment anywhere else," she says, noting that those who have been in jail for a long time or have visible tattoos - particularly on the face - have the most difficulty securing work. And the latter is a chief priority for the organization whose well-worn motto is "Nothing stops a bullet like a job."

"In better economic times, they were helping anywhere from 40-50 percent find jobs," she says. But unfortunately, due to the current economic climate, "now that number is very low."

Homeboy employment counselors help 500 people each month, and clients include Trader Joe's, American Apparel, the University of Southern California, the Los Angeles Flea Market and its biggest employment collaborator, Meals on Wheels.

"Once they've been accepted for employment, if they're accepted in work-readiness positions, they start on the maintenance crew and are assigned to a case manager, and they work out their individual service plan," Hobson says.

If the person has a drug problem, they meet with a mental-health specialist. If they have existing litigation issues, they meet with a legal consultant.

"Our programs are comprehensive and wrap around," she adds.

The formula spelled out by Hobson is a winning one, and it has become a national model that has spread to such unlikely cities as Wichita, Kansas; Spokane, Washington; and Prichard, Alabama.

When asked if Homeboy could become a nationalized institution, Fr. Boyle responds: "We don't want to franchise, because we want people to design their own and steal everything we have without borrowing."

In addition to his evangelizing, Homies spread the word about the organization's secret recipe through speaking engagements at churches, colleges and police departments.

For hard proof of the organization's success, look no further than this statistic determined by the University of California, Los Angeles: 70 percent of the youth who enter the Homeboy program complete it to, in Hobson's words, "the point that they're able to leave here stronger, resilient and able to make their way." Most organizations working with a similar population have about a 20-30 percent retention rate.

One of Homeboy's most prominent success stories is Felipe Esparza, who recently landed a $250,000 prize as the victor of the most recent installment of the reality-TV show "Last Comic Standing." In the season finale, he shone a spotlight on Homeboy, detailing in a video testimony his 20-plus-year relationship with Fr. Boyle and commitment to donating part of his winnings to the organization.

In a city filled with entertainers, glitterati and other Very Important People, Fr. Boyle is one of Los Angeles' biggest  stars. But even if his name is becoming better known with each passing day, that doesn't diminish his most important role: Father Boyle. More than just a priest, he is a father figure in other ways as well.

In fact, it's not only a community that Fr. Boyle has helped to create. In the words of Brian, one of the Homies who leads tours at the complex: "This is my family."

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