Scores of homeboys, homegirls, elected officials and community supporters braved a cold and rainy March 10 morning to bless and break the ground on which the long awaited Homeboy Bakery will be rebuilt.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the new facility could be called "Destination Hope." Speaking to young men and women who have sometimes been caught up in gang activity, the mayor said, "We want to instill in you the idea that anything is possible, that you could turn your life around to do something productive to give back to the community you live in."
The original 80-year old bakery building burned down in 1999 following an electrical fire. The new 21,000 square feet complex being built on Bruno and Alameda Streets across the street from the Chinatown Gold Line station near downtown Los Angeles will also bring together various Homeboy Industry businesses including its headquarters, Homegirls Café and Catering, and a retail store. It will offer services to assist at-risk youth wanting to trade in gang activity for gainful employment. The capital campaign has raised a little more than half of the 11.5 million needed for the project.
Jesuit Father Greg Boyle directs the ministry which in 2005 offered more than 4,000 tattoo removal treatments, 1,000 mental health counseling sessions and nearly 1,000 job placements to youth working for Homeboy businesses or in outside jobs. The organization reaches out to youth and young adults from 600 gangs spanning Long Beach to Lancaster.
Villaraigosa pointed out that between 1994 and 2006 the California inmate population has increased from 69,000 to 173,000 people in prison.
"Yes, people should face the consequences of their actions. None of us would suggest otherwise. But we also have to look within. What are we doing to turn a life around?" asked the mayor. "We have a lot of work to do to reclaim a young person one at a time, because that's what it's all about."
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca noted the irony in locating Homeboy Industries one quarter of a mile west of the largest jail system in the world --- Men's Central Jail --- where some four to five thousand gang members are being held.
Calling the problem of gangs "extraordinary and difficult," Baca added, "You cannot arrest your way out of a gang problem. You cannot put enough people in prison or jails to solve this problem."
Homeboy Industries is "an oasis near a place that represents nothing but despair," said Baca. "I'm very, very pleased to say that my relationship with Father Boyle is one that has given me tremendous inspiration as well --- that this man can singly inspire the work of young men who have lost their journey in life, and he has given them a new direction."
Dressed in his priestly black with a colorful Latin American stole, Father Boyle referred to French writer Albert Camus: "Where there is no hope, you have to invent it." Father Boyle added, "This inauguration this morning is about the invention of hope in a city where oftentimes poor young men and women plan their funerals and not their future. This place here announces that we will stand with the disposable, until such time that we stop throwing folks away."
After several stints in juvenile facilities and prison for gang banging and drug related offenses, Agustin Lizama reached a point where he thought "enough is enough." He went to Father Boyle after being released and got his first job as a phone clerk.
"Father G. trusted me by employing me," said the 26-year-old who was first shot at when he was 12. He now facilitates the anger management classes at Homeboy. "It's a dream come true to be a part of this. I hope I can play a role in touching a young person to redirect themselves to be somebody.
"I've done so much more in the last seven months than I've accomplished my whole life," added Lizama, who is studying to become a drug prevention counselor. "I'm even amazing myself." |