Father Greg Boyle, a Jesuit Catholic priest who founded the Homeboy Industries gang intervention program in Los Angeles, will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.
Boyle is one of 19 recipients who will be honored by President Joe Biden at the White House on Friday. Honorees include such notables as Vice President Al Gore, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Opal Lee. Educator and activist known for her efforts to make Juneteenth a federally recognized holiday.
The award was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1963 to recognize individuals who have made “outstanding contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, culture, or other significant public or private endeavors.”
In a statement, the White House described Boyle as the founder of the largest gang intervention and rehabilitation program in the world and credited him with turning around the lives of thousands of Angelenos. Boyle could not immediately be reached for comment.
Boyle became pastor of Dolores Mission in 1986. At the time, the area also had the highest concentration of gang activity in the city, with hundreds of gangs and thousands of members. As many as nine gangs are active around the parish, according to the mission’s website.
In 1988, Boyle created “Jobs of the Future” on the mission. The purpose of the program is to help men and women escape gangs through education, job training and employment. Jobs for a Future eventually grew into Homeboy Industries and expanded its services to include tattoo removal, housing assistance and substance abuse support, as well as job training like solar panel installation.
The nonprofit has also launched several businesses over the years that are staffed by former incarcerated clients in its various programs. Those businesses include Homeboy Bakery, which supplies products to its Homeboy Farmers Markets, Homeboy Diner and Homegirl Cafe and Catering. It also operates an electronics recycling business.
The nonprofit says its approach to transforming the lives of former gang members has become a blueprint for many other organizations in the United States and countries as diverse as Honduras, Australia and Zimbabwe.
Boyle was a Jesuit member for 50 years and a priest for 38 years. He received the California Peace Prize and other important awards and was inducted into the California Hall of Fame. In 2014, President Obama named Father Boyle a Champion of Change, the Obama administration’s recognition of “people who have made extraordinary contributions to transforming their communities.”
The Presidential Medal of Freedom Ceremony will be held at 1:30 pm PDT and can be viewed here.
