The gang-intervention heroes at Homeboy Industries have just been chosen as winners of the 2020 Humanitarian Prize from the Hilton Foundation, and will receive $2.5 million in unrestricted funding.

As the world's largest annual humanitarian award, the Prize is presented to a nonprofit organization judged to have made extraordinary contributions toward alleviating human suffering.

Homeboy Industries is a unique place where former gang members are able to experience healing from their violent pasts within the context of kinship. It is a place of hope where work therapy, mentorship, education, tattoo removal and many other vital re-entry services are offered so people can have a second chance at life.

"We used to be worst enemies on the streets and now we're family at Homeboys," said one Homeboy trainee.

Founded in 1988 by Father Gregory Boyle, Homeboy was formed with the goal of improving the lives of former gang members in East Los Angeles. At that time, Fr. Boyle was a pastor of the Dolores Mission Church, the most impoverished Catholic parish in the city, alongside, two of the largest public housing projects in the country. They also had the highest concentration of gang activity in the country.

While law enforcement tactics of suppression and criminal justice policies of mass incarceration were the prevailing means to deal with gang violence, Fr. Boyle saw young people who deserved a chance and worked to change the way the world views them.

Today, Homeboy Industries has evolved into the world's largest gang intervention, rehab and re-entry program, and is dedicated to providing hope, training and support to individuals, which in turn makes a positive impact in those individuals' families and communities. Their re-entry program focuses on helping participants heal from complex trauma through the delivery of wraparound social services rooted in a culture of kinship and tenderness.

Importantly, the program builds work readiness skills for participants through employment opportunities in nine social enterprises which it owns and operates, including a bakery, tailor services, and print shop.

"All of us at Homeboy Industries are profoundly humbled by the Hilton Foundation's recognition," Homeboy Industries Founder Fr. Gregory Boyle, S.J. said. "Their validation of our work of 32 years strengthens our resolve… (and) helps us all to move past ‘survival of the fittest' and allow the thriving of the nurtured."

The invaluable support that Homeboy Industries has received from both Los Angeles and California State government officials has been instrumental to the success and survival of Homeboy Industries and its community.

"Homeboy Industries is in the business of second chances, helping thousands of Angelenos—including survivors of mass incarceration and systemic racism—find meaningful healing, job training, and community," said Mayor Eric Garcetti.

The president and CEO of the Hilton Foundation, Peter Laugharn, says, "With the intention of ending the socio-economic inequities that impact communities, (this is) a tremendous example of ground-breaking humanitarian work right here in Los Angeles. Its community-led approach has spawned and supported a global network of over 300 organizations."

To date, the Hilton Foundation has awarded $36.5 million to recipients of the Prize. Homeboy Industries joins the roster of 24 Prize Laureates, including METAdrasi, SHOFCO, icddr,b and The Task Force for Global Health.

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