Homeboy Industries Inspires New Community Effort in Maywood

From the Loyola University Chicago Health Sciences Campus

This summer, a group of Loyola faculty and Maywood community members traveled to Los Angeles, to attend the Global Homeboy Network training at Homeboy Industries. Read how the Homeboy Industries approach may help further strengthen the Maywood community.

“What is the role of an academic medical center in a community?” asked Ginny McCarthy, MDiv., director of University Ministry, Health Sciences Campus.  

In August 2019, McCarthy and Amy Luke, PhD, Professor of Public Health Sciences in Parkinson, led a group of 10 people from the Loyola and Maywood communities to Los Angeles to answer that question at the Global Homeboy Network training at Homeboy Industries. 

Father Greg Boyle, SJ, founded Homeboy Industries three decades ago, to help improve the lives of former gang members in East Los Angeles. Since 1988, Homeboy Industries has not only grown to help thousands of people each year, but it has also inspired a network of organizations across the country to find innovative ways of providing hope and training to previously incarcerated men and women. 

Boyle shared his work and mission at Loyola’s Health Sciences Campus in April, inspiring McCarthy and Luke to put together a group of university and community leaders and explore how a similar program might work in Maywood. 

“One of the things I took away from the Global Homeboy gathering was this sense of community and understanding that the absence of community means the absence of support and options,” McCarthy said. It’s a trend she believes is reflected in Maywood, with its shortage of grocery stores, accessible transportation, and employment resources.   Continued...

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