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Father Greg Boyle, S.J.
 Fr.
Gregory Boyle – best known as Fr. Greg by all who
meet him -- was born in Los Angeles, one of eight children.
His father, a third-generation Irish-American, worked in
the family-owned dairy in Los Angeles County and his mother
worked to keep track of her large family. As a youth, Fr.
Greg and several of his siblings worked side by side with
their father in the dairy. After graduating from Loyola
High School in Los Angeles in 1972, he decided to become
a Jesuit and was ordained a priest in 1984.
He received his BA in English from Gonzaga
University; an MA in English from Loyola Marymount University;
a Master of Divinity from the Weston School of Theology;
and a Sacred Theology Masters degree from the Jesuit School
of Theology.
Prior to 1986 Fr. Boyle taught at Loyola
High School and worked with Christian Base Communities in
Cochabamba, Bolivia. He was appointed as Pastor of Dolores
Mission in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles
in 1986 where he served through 1992. He then served as
Chaplain of the Islas Marias Penal Colony in Mexico and
Folsom Prison, before returning to Los Angeles and Dolores
Mission.
Homeboy Industries traces its roots to
“Jobs For A Future” (JFF), a program created
in 1988 by Fr. Greg at Dolores Mission parish. In an effort
to address the escalating problems and unmet needs of gang-involved
youth, Fr. Greg and the community developed positive alternatives,
including establishing an elementary school, a day care
program and finding legitimate employment for young people.
JFF’s success demonstrated the model followed today
that many gang members are eager to leave the dangerous
and destructive life on the “streets.”
In 1992, as a response to the civil unrest
in Los Angeles, Fr. Greg launched the first business (under
the organizational banner of JFF and Proyecto Pastoral,
separated from Dolores Mission Church): 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
JFF to become an independent non-profit organization, Homeboy
Industries, in 2001. Today Homeboy Industries’ nonprofit
economic development enterprises include Homeboy Bakery,
Homeboy Silkscreen, Homeboy Maintenance, Homeboy/HomegirlMerchandise,
and HomegirlCafé.
As Executive Director of Homeboy Industries
and an acknowledged expert on gangs and intervention approaches,
Fr. Boyle is a nationally renowned speaker. He has given
commencement addresses at several prestigious universities,
as well as spoken at conferences for teachers, social workers,
criminal justice workers and others about the importance
of adult attention, guidance and unconditional love in preventing
youth from joining gangs. Fr. Greg and several “homies”
were featured speakers at the White House Conference on
Youth in 2005 at the personal invitation of Mrs. George
Bush. Fr. Greg is also a consultant to youth service and
governmental agencies, policy-makers and employers.
Fr. Boyle was a member of the State Commission
on Juvenile Justice, Crime and Delinquency Prevention and
is currently a member of the National Leadership Council
of the Iris Alliance Fund, and serves on the Advisory Boards
for the Loyola Law School Center for Juvenile Law and Policy
and the National Youth Gang Center. He has received numerous
accolades and recognitions on behalf of Homeboy and for
his work with former gang members, including the California
Peace Prize. On September 17, 2007, Fr. Greg received the
“Humanitarian of the Year” Award from Bon Appétit
magazine during their 10th Annual Awards Ceremony in New
York. He also received the Caring Institute’s 2007
Most Caring People Award, and was recently honored with
the 2008 Civic Medal of Honor from the Los Angeles Chamber
of Commerce.
This year, 2008, marks the 20th
Anniversary of the work Father Greg began. Homeboy Industries,
now located in downtown Los Angeles, is recognized as the
largest gang intervention program in the county, and has
become a national model.
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