Homeboy Industries - Gang-rehabilitation built on education, jobs and connection

It was founded in 1986, when Gregory Boyle took on the role of pastor at Dolores Mission Church, the poorest Catholic parish in Los Angeles. It included Aliso Village and Pico Gardens, which were then the largest public housing projects west of the Mississippi River. These areas had high levels of gang activity, making Los Angeles the gang capital of the world.

Where law enforcement relied heavily on suppression tactics and mass incarceration to address gang violence, Father Greg had a different perspective. Where others saw criminals, he saw individuals in need of assistance. 

“We work with the population that nobody desires to work with, and it’s a principle of this place that we stand with them” Father Greg 

Today, Homeboy Industries stands as the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program globally, welcoming thousands of people each year. It is built on connection and faith in every person's ability to change, give the right tools and circumstances. 

In the Peaceful Heart Network our mission is to support organizations and community projects like Homeboy Industries with tools for stress regulation and resolving trauma like Tapping and Havening. We got to know Hector Verdugo, Associate Executive Director & External Affairs in Sweden, in 2015. This is how we perceive the key components of what makes Homeboy Industries work.

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The Homeboy Program

The Homeboy program is unique in many ways, so to model it and replicate it will require an understanding of the key components that enable it, the secret sauce beyond the structure and rules. 

For a former gang-member to get integrated into society with a job the road can be steep: besides a prison record there is lost education, tattoos all over the body yelling “gang member”, gaps in social training outside street life and social connections. All the glue most people get for free by being born in a different zip code with decent parenting. And yes, sometimes it is that simple. 

According to neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky everything from the neurobiology of a second ago to evolutionary pressures over the last million years goes into how you became a specific sort of person. And when you look at all of that closely, we have very little control over it. From his point of view this knowledge should reshape the whole justice system and look to rehabilitate rather than punish. 

Father Gregory Boyle says more or less the same thing when he formulates “Gang violence is about a lethal absence of hope.” Hope comes from experiencing something hopeful, like connection, safety, the belief that somebody finds you valuable and capable. For this to work you need rules, accountability, showing up, doing what is required - but you also need authentic personal connection and support - what you lacked that pushed you into criminality - love. 

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Key 1 - The Sell 

To be a part of the Homeboy Industries you will have heard about it on the street, and then you will drop in one morning, stay for the ten minute morning call at 08:50 which is an all hands on deck with reports from all parts of the system: the baker, the silkscreen shop, the classes of the day, word of the day, availability of tattoo removals, a prayer for those lost and applause for those who have got a job. In my world, this display of community, unity, love and vocation is a key component and an elevator pitch to anyone attending for the first time. After this those who are in the program will disperse into classes, tattoo removal and health visits. 

If you are thinking of getting out of street life, you will be left waiting in one of the classroom chairs in the lobby, until Hector Verdugo, Dre Comers, Father Greg or someone else in charge today of doing the interviews is ready to see you and feel your pulse: if you are ready for this, if you will be able to follow through - you only get to join after applying and being accepted. It is a new chance and a privilege. 

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Key 2 - Gatekeepers

Each individual seeking support has to come to headquarters and walk in the front door. Whoever is doing the interview will know what it is like to be you. To have gang-banged, lived the street life, to be a gang member and to be tired of the violence, the drug race and the constant lack of hope. To face the possible humiliation from others in wanting to leave, and to stay steady to be able to follow through. This is not an easy process. It might take several visits before you are approved, it is a process of getting to know you. Having the right gatekeepers, like Hector and Dre, is a key component. The success of the program, much similar to the success of the HARP program of Chesterfield County Jail in Virginia (Helping Addicts Recover Progressively) is that it is managed and driven to a large extent by former and current participants. These skills are rarely taught in a University. They are not simple to describe in words or easily written in a job application. 

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Key 3 - Connection

If you ask about the “secret sauce” of gang-rehabilitation, it will be the same ingredient that was missing when gangs were created: caring parenting connection and a way to make a living. Gangs and criminality offer a belonging, the basic protection of a flock, and a way to make a living fast, without very much learning. But criminality comes at the price of the rules of the street, which often involve violence, drugs and prostitution: things you can make a fast living of if you believe the doors to “a successful normal life and job” are closed for you. 

In the Peaceful Heart Network we work a lot with refugees: people who are forced to leave their homes and families and reinvent themselves in a new context. We see little difference between this kind of refugeeing and looking to leave a lifestyle of criminality and addiction. 

Being a refugee means reinventing who you are, where you are and what you are about. It means learning new skills. Leaving criminality and addiction you will be learning a new “language”, without street names and slang, a language that works at a “normal job”. You will be working on yourself daily, to stay in the Homeboy program: anger management, parenting, writing a CV. You will be remodeling your appearance to “fit in”: removing tattoos all over your face and hands to start with, all displaying your affiliations and therefore possible causes of conflict depending on whom you meet, and a branding that may scare a lot of possible employers and their customers, who can’t see you beyond your ink. 

Being a refugee means finding a new social connection. Homeboy is a family that offers connection. Father Greg makes a point in his book Tattoos on The Heart : “Learn their names”. They are people. Like Hector and Dre keep pointing out “We are tired of being watched and never seen!”. 

This kind of connection is vital for change, and it is not something you can set aside space for in a budget, describe in the “rules of reform” or teach at a University. It is much easier to define punitive actions like jail time, more law enforcement and safe zones. But these actions have only been shown to increase criminality and violence. 

Caring for real. It doesn’t sound complicated. 

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Key 4 - Education

Once you feel safe, not having to look over your shoulder to stay alive, you will look for something more than safe - connection. Connection in its best form, supported by hundreds of studies, comes with love in the form of acceptance, not for joining a set of rules as in a gang or corporation or sect - but as who you are. It is about finding who you can be beyond sobriety and fighting or hustling to survive. One part of this is to understand that it is not about your personality or your zip code (where you were born) it is about learning what you haven’t learned to create the life you hope for, within the context you are in. 

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Key 4 - A Job

One of the many slogans of Homeboy is “Nothing stops a bullet like a job”. When you think about the basic human needs: to be seen (not watched), to belong (to a community, a tribe) and to contribute (to do something meaningful) that allows you to put a roof over your head and food on the table for your loved ones - a job is key.

The four most important areas of psychological and emotional stability are often considered to be 

Relationships and Social Connections - for emotional well-being and resilience.

Physical Health - to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety

Purpose and Meaning - for a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment - empowerment.

Self-sustaining economy - being able to provide, doing something of value: social status.

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Homeboy offers relationships and social connections on a daily basis, and educates about physical health and stress management. A job is a position in society where something you can do is regarded as worth paying for - which gives you a place in the flock and a social standing.

To get a job you will need to make up for time lost in school spent gang-banging in the streets. Being put on a school bench will not make you feel capable as a grown contributing member of society. It will probably make you feel like and trigger the drop-out you were when you chose to explore criminality. Homeboy solves this beautifully by providing a stipend if you are approved to join the program. To receive your weekly stipend you have to attend your classes of personal development - each class is checked by the one providing it. Simple and dignified - and a training in showing up on time for something - which can be an issue to keep a job if you have spent time in prison where everything was decided for you. Structure of everyday life can be a heck of a challenge.

Here Homebody has created a program of jobs that at best sustain the activities financially and provide a chance to deliver real work for a salary until looking for a place outside Homeboys 12 social enterprises including a bakery, silkscreening, electronics recycling, farmers markets and Homegirl Café. This is commitment to full circle reintegration, a model to be inspired by. Having said this, commitment requires dedicated souls with visions to maintain quality and finances, just like in the rest of the world. 

Once you have passed the program there is a large network looking to place Homeboy members into jobs, and employers that are prepared to give them a chance, knowing the value of welcoming someone into a regular life for the sake of them, their close community and the larger community. Jobs are announced in the morning meeting. It’s a very live and active word of mouth, and opportunities are applauded. Any type of rehabilitation or criminal reform will need to create something of the sort. To try to “rehabilitate” someone from these extremes and then just drop them into a “normal everyday job” is asking for conflict considering all social levels of skills that come with that beyond the actual job. 

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Benefits of gang-rehabilitation

The estimated yearly cost of crime in the United States is substantial, encompassing various direct and indirect expenses. While exact figures can vary based on the sources and methods used for calculation, here are some commonly cited estimates:

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1. Direct Costs

   - Law Enforcement and Judicial System: The costs associated with policing, courts, and legal proceedings are significant. These include salaries for police officers, judges, prosecutors, and public defenders, as well as operational costs for police departments and courts.

   - Incarceration: The cost of housing inmates in prisons and jails is substantial. This includes expenses for facility maintenance, staff salaries, healthcare for inmates, and rehabilitation programs.

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2. Indirect Costs

   - Victim Costs: These include medical expenses for injuries, lost productivity, mental health care, and the personal and financial impact on victims and their families.

   - Economic Impact: Crime can lead to property damage, loss of business revenue, increased insurance premiums, and decreased property values in affected areas.

Based on these factors, various studies and reports have provided estimates for the total annual cost of crime in the U.S. Here are some recent estimates:

- A 2018 report by the Institute for Economics and Peace estimated that the economic impact of violence, including crime, was $2.7 trillion per year in the United States, which includes direct and indirect costs.

It's important to note that these figures can vary widely depending on the scope of what is included (e.g., whether it includes all forms of violence, such as domestic violence and child abuse, or focuses solely on traditional crimes like robbery and assault). Additionally, these estimates often do not capture the full human and social impact of crime, which can be even more challenging to quantify.

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Conclusions

In the light of what seems to be increasing gang-related criminality in Sweden and other countries, a program like Homeboy should be urgently acknowledged, praised, evaluated, bottled and tried. Anything short is a bullet in the foot of society. A bullet that can be stopped. 

The trauma of systemically driven criminality can only be stopped from being passed on from one generation to another through social reform. Humanity can rise over the fears of “those people” and create a functioning “us”. 

The main challenge will be finding the right people, because what the staff and founders at Homeboy are doing is not something that is taught to social services, psychologists, psychiatrists or law enforcement officials: it is dedication, believing in the good of every human and offering help through a lens of love. Therefore it may have to be run as a foundation with grants from the government - or it will be eaten by administration and academic approaches to social change which inherently will suffer a lack of grasp of current and fast changing reality. 

I would like to see a calculation of implementing a program like Homeboy compared to allowing systemic criminality to grow and punitive actions to increase. A lot of science supports this but very few political reform programs do. Which is interesting. 

Being granted the opportunity to understand the Homeboy program and to share the resources and experiences gained through our international work in the Peaceful Heart Network in First Aid for Stress & Trauma (FAST) plus group dynamics and personal development has been a profound experience and a source of hope for gang-rehabilitation and a better world.

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APPENDIX

Aim of visit and this report

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The aim was twofold:

1. To continue to contribute with experiences from our work in the Peaceful Heart Network that may benefit the program, with First Aid for Stress and Trauma (FAST) using tapping and Havening as the starting point, and also group dynamics, leadership development, one-on-one sessions with hypnosis and modeling of strategies that may be useful long-term, such as letting go of shame and other triggers that are common in relapse.

2. To understand the “secret sauce” of the Homeboy Industries program to be able to replicate it in other places.

Contributed techniques

In the workshops we did we went through what is already excellently implemented and absorbed by the program such as tapping and Havening. The additions that seemed useful as noted by feedback from the participants were: 

Tapping
‍Group tapping with the wordless Trauma Tapping Technique and also for individuals is a fast way to lower stress and to resolve unfinished emotional reactions to past experiences. It takes less than 10 minutes and can have profound and lasting effects. Everyone can continue self-regulation with the free app and instruction movie. 

Havening a resource state
‍Self-Havening with explanation of reflex that can stop panic in self and others, adding psychoeducation of interoception, how noting the qualities of sensory experience in hands can add to association with body and emotion (hot-cold, dry-humid, coarse-soft).
From there going to distraction with humor in spelling backwards and long number recall with ridiculous multiple decimals to explain social engagement, playfulness and humor as parts of healing and creative solutions to previous traumas.
From there going into a resource memory, in effect “gold mining” a state that can give a smile, inner safety and be anchored for future use (sport psychology). Smiling always creates a good feeling and co-regulates well in groups. 

Havening with hypnosis
‍Using self-Havening to induce a trance state and then using music and hypnosis to deepen the state into a general reflection around the mechanics of anxiety, shame and relapse into addiction, how to release this in general and personally specific ways. 

Adrenaline Blow Out
‍The technique of pulling down and breathing out fast three times as a group for leveling anger or adrenaline and resetting oxygen balance. Great group energy.

Mind techniques

• Solution mindset: Focusing on the WHAT instead of the WHY, since the why often leads to rumination and depression due to the fact that it cannot be answered (too many contributing factors) while WHAT to do next time is a forward solution focus that usually empowers. Big “aha” for many.
  
  
• Understanding emotion: Anxiety, fear and any other emotion is asking for one of four things:
  1. Information
  2. Resource
  3. Skill
  4. State
  This took away a lot of shame and made things “handleable” for many.
  
  
• A forward mindset: Focusing on “getting back on your feet” after a mistake rather than wallowing in a pity party of shame that won’t resolve anything. Explaining the fact that shame and excuses provoke disgust more often than understanding and compassion.
  This was embodied in a song that was performed with both pods “Back Into The Light”.
  
  
• Metaphor and brain: The brain is wired to avoid pain or move towards gain. This ties into every part of language and metaphor used. If you are “struggling with recovery” your brain is in defense mode with accompanying stress. If you choose to “explore your transformation beyond sobriety” the brain will wire differently and positively. Suggestion was to use “Andy in transformation” rather than “Andy in recovery” to move this timeline and focus.
  
  
• Understanding co-regulation. That we are mammals. That we have reflexes. That trauma is a feature, not a bug. That we can reset this feature.
  
  
• Bringing the perspective of a refugee - leaving criminality, addiction or an abusive relationship is no different from being a refugee from a war or national catastrophe - you have not chosen, you have to reinvent yourself and your narrative, learn a new “language” and culture. 

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Photos

Here are photos from the workshops. Credit Melodie Sandström.