Reception at Succeed Academy
Bishop Jaime Soto, right, congratulates Jesuit Father Gregory Boyle, founder and executive director of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, at a Dec. 7 reception in his honor at St. Patrick’s SUCCEED Academy in Sacramento.
Father Boyle was one of several 2011 inductees into the California Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony was held Dec. 8 at the Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento. The inductees are chosen as those who embody the spirit of California – innovative, trailblazing and inspiring – and have broken barriers to open pathways for the generations to come.
Father Boyle founded Homeboy in 1992 as a response to the civil unrest in Los Angeles. He launched the first business, Homeboy Bakery, with a mission to create an environment that provided training, work experience, and above all, the opportunity for rival gang members to work side by side. The success of the bakery created the groundwork for additional businesses, thus prompting an independent non-profit organization, Homeboy Industries, in 2001.
Homeboy Industries traces its roots to Jobs for a Future, a program created in 1988 when Father Boyle was pastor of Dolores Mission Parish in Los Angeles, which was an effort to address the escalating problems and unmet needs of gang-involved youth.