Anyone who wanders into Homegirl Cafe just off North Alameda Street in Downtown Los Angeles in search of an espresso may think at first they’re just in another hipster joint, nicely appointed, cutting edge.
“Best chilaquiles I have ever had!” raves one online commenter. But it’s the next comment that gets to the difference between Homegirl and the others: “The food and service were both incredible, and it has an incredible mission.”
Mission? In a cafe? Beyond, say, composting and recycling?
Well, the casual observer will soon see that, yes, the Gen Z and Millennial servers do have even more tattoos than most of their peers, some of them of the teardrop-on-the-face variety.
That’s because Homegirl’s parent nonprofit, Homeboy Industries, has evolved since 1988, when it was founded as a way of improving the lives of former gang members in East L.A., into the largest gang intervention, rehab and re-entry program in the world.
The Homegirl baristas and bakers and servers are all formerly from the gang world, and all have taken advantage of the employment classes, and perhaps other services from tattoo removal to substance-abuse counseling, and are now supporting themselves through one of the greatest success stories in Southern California. Homeboy even runs one of its cafes in a branch on the second floor of L.A. City Hall, offering up to the City Council members, lobbyists, staffers and mere citizens who must do business there a welcome respite from the government sausage-making: BLTs, Danish, bagels and double chocolate chip cookies, all house made.
And the ex-gang members’ success in the world is thanks to the vision of Father Gregory Boyle, the native Angeleno, Loyola High grad and Jesuit priest who formerly served as the pastor of Dolores Mission Church in Boyle Heights, which at the time was the poorest parish in Los Angeles.
Boyle’s name stands out among the 19 politicians, celebrities and other activists who this week received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden.
He has been a true Angeleno hero for decades, and it makes us and other Southern Californians proud to see him so recognized at the national level. After watching so many in his community gunned down in the gang wars that began in the late 1980s — with about 1,000 gang-related killings in 1992 — Boyle said, “Gang violence is about a lethal absence of hope.” His novel concept: treat gang members like human beings.
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And prepare them to enter the real workforce rather than the criminal one with actual expertise, as wishing don’t make it so. For instance, Homeboy pays the fees for its clients solar panel installation training at the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Adult and Career Education Division, which includes a pre-exam tutoring program. Homeboy says that while the national pass rate for certification is 40%, its pass rate is 65%, making the graduates sought-out in the solar panel marketplace.
The community is invited in to help: Among the long-term volunteers at Homeboy are lawyers, teachers, therapists, social workers and medical professionals offering their services pro bono. Contact Homeboy if you’d like to get involved at homeboyindustries.org.
Instead of hand-wringing, Father Greg did something. Now, thousands have jobs and new lives, thanks to Homeboy. That’s work we call highly worthy of this nation’s Presidential Medal of Freedom.