~The Shotcallers~

Well, time for you to meet some of the key players from Homeboy Industries that help run the Solar Panel Training Program...

~We will start at the top: Father Gregory Boyle, better known as "Gee" to the flock of gang-members whose lives he attempts to change on a daily basis.

Fr. Gregory Boyle – best known as Gee by all who meet him -- was born in Los Angeles, one of eight children. His father, a third-generation Irish-American, worked in the family-owned dairy in Los Angeles County and his mother worked to keep track of her large family. As a youth, Fr. Greg and several of his siblings worked side by side with their father in the dairy. After graduating from Loyola High School in Los Angeles in 1972, he decided to become a Jesuit and was ordained a priest in 1984.

Homeboy Industries traces its roots to “Jobs For A Future” (JFF), a program created in 1988 by Fr. Greg at Dolores Mission parish. In an effort to address the escalating problems and unmet needs of gang-involved youth, Fr. Greg and the community developed positive alternatives, including establishing an elementary school, a day care program and finding legitimate employment for young people. JFF’s success demonstrated the model followed today that many gang members are eager to leave the dangerous and destructive life on the “streets.”

In 1992, as a response to the civil unrest in Los Angeles, Fr. Greg launched the first business (under the organizational banner of JFF and Proyecto Pastoral, separated from Dolores Mission Church): Homeboy Bakery with a mission to create an environment that provided training, work experience, and above all, the opportunity for rival gang members to work side by side. The success of the Bakery created the groundwork for additional businesses, thus prompting JFF to become an independent non-profit organization, Homeboy Industries, in 2001. Today Homeboy Industries’ nonprofit economic development enterprises include Homeboy Bakery, Homeboy Silkscreen, Homeboy Maintenance, Homeboy/HomegirlMerchandise, and HomegirlCafé.

~Next up: Hector Verdugo, Director of Homeboy Industries, top man of the Solar Panel Training Program...

Hector Verdugo is Director for Homeboy Industries. He himself joined a gang when he was 14. At the age of 24, he gave up his criminal life.

~My immediate boss: Aswad Humphries - Coordinator for the Solar Panel Training Program.

Aswad is a former gang member that went through the Solar Panel Training Course himself.  He was handpicked to head up the program early this year and he has brought a breath of new life to the program. He is the man that ultimately picks the candidates for the program, in other words, the buck stops with Oz, as he is better known.

~And finally, me...

Yeah, I'm a former gang member from the streets of Long Beach...I went through the program myself and my love and my loyalty ultimately lay with Father Greg...he has saved my ass, baptized my child and loved me when he barely knew me...oh yeah, and he gave me  a job!  My name is Jose Osuna, Assistant Coordinator for the program, and it is my pleasure to be a part of this...hope you get to know us over the next few months...