For more than three decades, Father Greg Boyle has devoted his life to people living on the margins. As the founder of Homeboy Industries, he responded to gang violence not simply by confronting crime, but by addressing the despair, trauma and lack of opportunity he saw beneath it. When schools refused to take young gang members, he helped create one. When employers wouldn’t hire them, Homeboy created jobs.
Today, the organization operates numerous social enterprises and services designed to help people rebuild their lives.
On “California Stories,” Boyle tells host Giselle Fernandez that his approach has always been rooted in understanding rather than judgment: “No healthy adult thinks that tenderness and compassion is weak.”
Boyle’s philosophy is grounded in the belief that people are capable of transformation and that no one should be written off as irredeemable. He says the people he has worked with have become his greatest teachers, showing him the power of belonging, dignity and unconditional acceptance. His approach has helped make Homeboy a model replicated beyond Los Angeles, but Boyle resists viewing the work through the lens of conventional success.
For him, the goal isn’t simply changing behavior — it’s healing the person underneath it.
“We’re not trying to create a community of behaving people, but a community of cherished belonging,” he said.
That philosophy has also shaped Boyle’s response to the divisions and fear surrounding Los Angeles today, particularly among immigrant communities affected by deportation policies and enforcement actions.
He calls for people to stand together rather than abandon those who are vulnerable, framing solidarity as an expression of his faith rather than a political position. After decades of witnessing violence, loss and hardship, Boyle says he remains hopeful because his work continually brings him back to the humanity of the people around him.
His message to LA is one of compassion, connection and collective responsibility: “We’re going to stand with the demonized until the demonizing stops.”
Watch “California Stories with Giselle Fernandez” at 8 p.m. every Monday on Spectrum News 1.