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Posted by vernpaul on August 15, 2010, 3:02 pm || Total Votes: 1
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Return To Hope: Homeboy Industries Its a Jesuit Thing (Los Angeles, the gang warfare capital of the world. The Church fights back)(pics courtesy of Homeboy Industries)
Most of us come from families where love is not a question. Our parents filled our lives with joy and love during times of growing pains, and stress in our lives. Whenever we felt that no one else was there for us our family was there to love us and be there for us unconditionally. In addition our parents gave us resources of love by developing our faith in God. Our lives were very structured with many avenues to seek out when we were in trouble. Many teens growing up need this love and support to get through the difficult time of puberty. Imagine if that support was not there during a crucial time in your life, and that support was taken away while you were a teen. If that were to happen to us we would find ourselves in some pretty dark places.
Perhaps these feelings are going through millions of teens growing up in gang ridden towns. Teens want and need family structure and when they do not find it at home they seek out a substitute. Gangs fill that void and give a sense of family structure to a young man or woman. The void of emptiness is filled soon with hate and violence. This reason sounds better then just a virtual lack of morality. Gang members replace the lost love of the family unit with an overwhelming desire to be respected, and a strong loyalty to the neighborhood and to fellow gang members.
Gangs are part of the Los Angeles Crime Scene. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, gang crime is down by 11.6 percent across the board in 2010 but that does not mean the problem has gone away. 1,400 criminal gangs still exist in Los Angeles County. In 2001 gangs were responsible for over 50 percent of the murders in the county. LA. County pours millions of dollars in the suppression of gangs. On their website only a small portion of the site is dedicated to prevention. The LA solution to gangs happens to depend on reactive measures instead of proactive measures.
The solution to gangs in neighborhoods has complex answers. Police know that just arresting the kids and adults involved with gangs will not solve the problem but that’s what police know how to do. The gang problem has to be attacked on all fronts. It is a complex social issue that requires all facets of society to jump in with ideas. This goes back to it takes a whole village to raise a child.
The Catholic Church in recent years has come up with some interesting solutions to the LA gang problem by addressing the root causes of the gang problem. To Fr. Greg Boyle, Mission Dolores pastor, the gang problem was more than a lack of morality. Fr. Greg knew he needed to instill in his parish hope and faith. He knew he had to give his community something to be proud of to stem the violence in the parish.
Fr. Greg Boyle was born in Los Angeles and he went to school in Los Angeles. He received his BA in English from Gonzaga University, his MA in English from Loyola Marymount University, his Masters of Divinity from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, and a Masters degree from the Jesuit school of Theology.
While pastor at Dolores Mission parish in Boyle Heights a subdivision of Los Angeles, Fr. Boyle looked for ways of helping out his parishioners, many of them gang members with no job skills and little education. Thus in 1988 Jobs For A Future was born, a program to help with the needs of the disenfranchised youth of the parish. The program addressed positive alternatives to gangs, including establishing an elementary school, a day care program, and finding legitimate jobs for the youth. What Fr. Boyle discovered through his earlier efforts was that gang members would leave the gang world if they had a viable alternative. Many gang members wanted to leave the destructive life of the streets if given an opportunity to do so.
With this knowledge in hand Fr. Greg ventured from the parish and separated from Mission Dolores with a new idea. Jobs For a Future evolved into Homeboy Industries starting off in 1992 with Homeboy bakery. Spawned during the turmoil of the Rodney King Riots the bakery flourished and gave birth to the following industries: Homeboy Bakery, Homegirl Café and Catering, Homeboy and Homegirl Merchandise, and Homeboy Silkscreen and Embroidery. According to Mona Hobson, Director of Development for Homeboy Industries, all four businesses can employ around 500 youths during good times. In addition to the four businesses the organization runs a charter high school, a tattoo removal shop, mental health services and various programs for increasing job skills. Hobson adds that the organization touches 1,000 youths per month which translates to 12,000 per year. The program has celebrated 22 years of evolution and growth as an alternative to gang violence. To this day Fr. Greg continues to head the efforts of Homeboy Industries as Executive Director.
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Already voted! | Topic: Catholic Charities
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