2025 Context

“Hope has an address” - Homeboy Industries

The 2025 Changemakers — Radical Kinship in Action: A Day at Homeboy Industries — spotlighted Homeboy Industries, the world’s largest gang rehabilitation and reentry program. Participants joined us for a half-day immersive event exploring what it meant to lead with compassion, accountability and radical kinship. Launched in 1988 by Father Gregory Boyle, the Los Angeles-based nonprofit evolved from a single goal of helping former gang members find jobs into a national model of healing and community transformation.

Each year, more than 10,000 people walk through the doors of Homeboy Industries in search of support, hope and a new path forward. The organization’s 18-month reentry program offers wraparound services that include paid job training, mental health support, education, and workforce development. Homeboy’s holistic, trauma-informed approach disrupts cycles of incarceration and poverty — and its network of social enterprises provides real economic opportunity for people ready to start over.

The UCLA Changemakers gathering offered students, alumni and friends of the University a rare opportunity to experience Homeboy’s work firsthand. The day began with the nonprofit’s signature morning staff meeting, followed by a guided tour of its Chinatown headquarters. Participants also engaged with UCLA alumni and Homeboy staff who led change from within the organization.

The program featured keynote addresses and a panel on Homeboy’s social enterprise model that explored how business can serve as a vehicle for rehabilitation and justice. Panelists included Cynthia Zuno-Godinez, director of bakery operations at Homeboy Industries; Jose Arellano, vice president of operations at Homeboy Industries and owner of Tepito Coffee; and Fabian Debora, founder and executive director of the Homeboy Art Academy. Guided by Gayle Northrop, MBA ’96, the conversation traced the evolution of Homeboy’s businesses and examined how mission-aligned entrepreneurship can drive long-term community impact.

Homeboy’s enterprises — including Homegirl Café, Homeboy Electronics Recycling and the Homeboy Art Academy — generate millions in revenue annually, while reinvesting in people often left out of the mainstream economy. The model has garnered national acclaim, including the 2020 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, and continues to inspire similar efforts around the country.

The UCLA community was invited to be part of this powerful event, which reflected the values of kinship, equity and public service.

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