Stories of Hope, Healing, and Transformation: The Example of Homeboy Industries

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In these turbulent times, there is no better example than Homeboy Industries.

When it seems like there is no hope, wounds cannot be healed, lives cannot be changed, or history cannot be changed, the stories that Homeboy Industries teaches us every day are nourishment for the soul.

This week, Greg Boyle’s example provides an example of faith and struggle. Things can be changed if there is perseverance and we walk in the right direction.

Homeboy Industries’ annual graduation ceremony was held on Tuesday, celebrating academic achievements and recognizing the stories of hope, healing, and transformation of its graduates.

This year, the nonprofit is seeing the largest number of graduates who were awarded associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees from East Los Angeles College, Cal State Los Angeles, Cal State Long Beach, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and USC.

Several of the graduates received their high school diplomas through Learning Works Charter High School and Twilight Adult School.

This year’s graduates include current participants or alumni of Homeboy Industries’ 18-month training program, current staff and community members.

“You welcomed me when I needed healing. Gave me purpose when I needed direction and helped me rise when I thought I had fallen too far,” one graduating student said during the ceremony in Chinatown. “I am proud to represent what transformation through second chances looks like.”

The nonprofit supports former gang members or previously incarcerated adults and youth looking to use the provided academic services and relationships to get a second chance in life.

“Thirty-seven years ago, graduating for gang members was kind of not a thing, but we made progress. And now, this is exactly what you did,” Rev. Greg Boyle, Homeboy Industries founder, said on stage in front of the 109 graduates.

Since being founded in 1988, Homeboy Industries has received $40 million in funding and donations, becoming the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world where it welcomes 10,000 people who seek services and support each year with an additional 10,000 visitors seeking to create a connection with the community through the nonprofit program.