Father Gregory Boyle

Camarillo, CA. – CSU Channel Islands (CI) will feature Father Gregory Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries, for a presentation on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2010. The event will take place from 6:00 to 7:30 PM in Malibu Hall 100 on the CI campus and is open to the public.

Andrea Grove, Associate Professor of the Political Science Program and Faculty Director for both the Center for Community Engagement and the California Institute for Social Business explained, “The many ways in which Father Boyle has given hope to at-risk and formerly gang-involved members of our communities are awe-inspiring. His accomplishments provide our students who are studying social entrepreneurship and will soon be studying social business with essential lessons and inspiration.”

Boyle heads up the largest intervention program in the country, offering job training, tattoo removal and employment to members of enemy gangs. The program has become a national model.

One of eight children, Boyle grew up comfortably in Hancock Park in Los Angeles and graduated from Loyola High School in 1972. He was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1984. The possessor of three master’s degrees, he became a social activist after working with the poor.

Boyle staked out the Pico-Aliso neighborhood in Los Angeles, probably the most heavily gang-infested area in the United States, and started his first business, Homeboy Bakery, as a means to provide job training, work experience and a chance for members of rival gangs to work together. Homeboy Industries, an independent non-profit organization, today includes Homeboy Bakery, Homeboy Silkscreen, Homeboy Maintenance, Homeboy/Homegirl Merchandise, and Homegirl Café.

A winner of countless humanitarian awards, Boyle is a surrogate father to many of the young men and women that have passed through Homeboy Industries. His secret weapon is compassion, which figures in the title of his new book, Tattoos on the Heart: the Power of Boundless Compassion. The book chronicles his work in the barrio with stories and essays. Having buried more than 168 of his young protégées, boys and girls, he relates how he has managed to retain the faith and hope that keep him going. There will be a book signing after Boyle’s presentation.

CI’s Andrew Morris, Associate Professor in Sociology, who teaches an interdisciplinary and service learning course titled Social Entrepreneurship, said, “ Using new and emerging 21st century models of social entrepreneurship, Father Boyle and Homeboy Industries are turning problems of unemployment and gang violence into possibilities, for indeed, to quote Father Boyle, ’Nothing stops a bullet like a job.’”

Limited parking is available on campus. A daily permit is $6. Free parking is available at the Camarillo Metrolink Station/Lewis Road parking lot in Camarillo with bus service to and from the campus. Riders should board the VISTA Bus to the campus; the fare is $1 each way. Buses arrive and depart from the Camarillo Metrolink Station every 30 minutes from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday. For exact times, check the schedule at www.goventura.org.

For additional information on the event contact Pilar Pacheco at 805-437-8851 or pilar.pacheco@csuci.edu.

CSU Channel Islands is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

CI Mission Statement
Placing students at the center of the educational experience, California State University Channel Islands provides undergraduate and graduate education that facilitates learning within and across disciplines through integrative approaches, emphasizes experiential and service learning, and graduates students with multicultural and international perspectives.