Unprecedented Amount of Donations and Funding for Non-Profit Organization Homeboy Industries
By FRIDA RICHARDS AUG 24, 2021, 1:30PM
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - Sitting down at her desk at Homeboy Industries, Alison Lass, the Manager of Global Homeboy Network and Media Relations, is wearing a mask and filling out paperwork while the office behind her bustles with conversation. “I apologize for the noise,” Lass says. “We have a lot of work and preparation to do today”
Homeboy Industries, a rehabilitation and reentry program for former gang members and incarcerated people of Los Angeles, received a $20 million dollar donation from MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett, and an additional $15 million dollars of long-term funding from the state of California In June and July of 2021.
This unprecedented amount of funding and donations for Homeboy Industries and will bring the organization to new heights of accessibility for former gang members and incarcerated people of Los Angeles. These donations will go directly towards funding Homeboy’s comprehensive capital campaign. This includes initiatives such as establishing an operating reserve, developing supportive housing solutions for clients, and creating quality jobs through the expansion of social enterprises.
Now able to set aside an efficient operating reserve with a cushion of funding for unexpected events or emergencies, Homeboy Industries has been granted security and safety. Protected from unbudgeted expenses and income loss, Homeboy can move forward with projects and endeavors that will further their goals and overarching mission.
Having just been awarded The Hilton Humanitarian Prize in 2020, Homeboy Industries has gained more recognition from the public. According to Lass, this has allowed Homeboy the opportunity to expand their public reach. "We are incredibly honored and humbled to receive this extraordinary gift from game-changing philanthropists committed to the notion that there is no us and them, only us. We will use this gift to address critical housing needs and
job creation in a post-pandemic world, while building enduring strength for years to come as we invest in the next generation of future Homeboy leaders,” says Thomas Vozzo, the CEO of Homeboy Industries.
MacKenzie Scott, a billionaire and philanthropist, has become known to make impressively large donations to non-profit organizations. Formerly married to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Scott and her husband Dan Jewett are challenging the status quo amongst the 1%.
“We are governed by a humbling belief that it would be better if disproportionate wealth were not concentrated in a small number of hands and that the solutions are best designed and implemented by others,” says Scott. This very notion can be seen in the donation to Homeboy, providing them the opportunity to expand on the positive and life-changing work that they do.
The funding and donation will “really bring the organization to a new level of capacity,” according to Rev. Allan Figueroa Deck, a member of Homeboy’s board of directors. “It will assure a level of stability in this really important work that it never has had before”
The $15 million in funding from the state of California is to be allocated over a multi-year period, all going directly towards the further development of Homeboy’s workforce training and reentry program.
While Homeboy assists in clients getting jobs, they also create jobs for their clients through social enterprises. Enterprises including Homegirl Cafe, Homeboy Bakery, Electronics and Recycling, and catering allow their clients to get work experience and job training. The funding from the state of California will allow Homeboy to expand and create more enterprises, according to Deck.
“What we’ve discovered is that we can prepare people for work, but frequently we don’t find work because there isn’t any. Part of our response has to be also to generate some jobs,” Deck says.
According to Alison Lass, Homeboy will also use this funding to hire more staff members and expand on-site resources such as classrooms, round-the-clock mental health
services, and childcare. By providing on-site childcare and parental training, Homeboy will “help [clients] adapt to raising babies and providing good environments for them,” Lass said.
This closeness and proximity to on-site resources provides Homeboy’s clients with better accessibility. Clients will not have to worry about transportation fees, going from one resource to another resource, to a job, all across town in Los Angeles traffic, and think about picking up their children on time from an expensive daycare center. Their jobs at Homeboy’s social enterprises are already on-site, and through this funding and donation, there will be even more jobs and on-site resources readily available.
Along with on-site resources, a new goal as Homeboy heads into the future is to help clients navigate California’s housing shortage. Homeboy has begun working on acquiring a piece of land that will provide housing to at least 100 people as they transition out of state institutions. This is often a forgotten, crucial part of rehabilitation and reentry, according to Lass. This is just the start, as they continue to create and expand transitional housing and permanent housing for clients.
Father Greg Boyle, who founded Homeboy Industries in 1988, is looking forward to what the funding and donations will provide their clients.
"For more than 33 years, Homeboy Industries has relied on the tremendous generosity of our family of supporters who share our mission to stand with those on the margins until the margins are erased,” remarked Father Boyle. “This incredible gift will enable us to serve as a beacon of hope and community of kinship for thousands upon thousands when our mission is more essential than ever”
