Читать книгу The Mission-Driven Venture - Lane Marc J. - Страница 9

Drive 350 miles south of Juma's headquarters, and you'll find Father Greg Boyle – “Father G” to some of the high-risk former gang members his Homeboy Industries employs, “G-Dog” to others – a charismatic visionary tackling the pain of poverty and unemployment in the mean streets of East Los Angeles with tactics Marc Spencer would likely endorse. Father Boyle's journey began in 1988 with the “Jobs For A Future” campaign he launched with Dolores Mission, where he served as a Jesuit pastor. Homeboy Bakery, a 1992 response to civil unrest in Los Angeles, came next, followed by non-profit economic development enterprises, including Homeboy Silkscreen, Homeboy/Homegirl Merchandise, Homeboy Diner, Homeboy Farmers Markets, Homeboy Plumbing, and Homegirl Café. The Homeboy strategy, providing training and work experience to rival gang members, brings them together in a common cause. Father Greg's mantra – “Nothing stops a bullet like a job” – is the slogan emblazoned on some of the T-shirts Homeboy Industries sells, and it's also the message he sells to everyone who will listen. G-Dog, a man of faith who believes in second chances and the power of redemption, delivers on his promise: his social conglomerate proudly claims to be the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the nation.

Hector Verdrigo knows that the Homeboy approach works; it worked for him. As he tells it, “Gang lifestyle was in our family – all my aunts and uncles were involved. It was easy to get into the violent lifestyle of being a gang member and looking forward to going to juvenile hall to prove yourself. When you got out, you had to go to state prison.” But now Hector, a product of Homeboy, is Father Boyle's right-hand man. Just as Marc Spencer expects Juma grads to take over its operations one day, Father G expects someone like Hector – and not a priest – to succeed him.