Homeboy Program Unites Ex-Gang Members

Aside from American Idol contestants Adam Lambert and Kris Allen, former rival gang members may be just about the last people you would expect to see out sharing a laugh and a bite to eat. Los Angeles-based nonprofit Homeboy Industries is hoping to change that.

Homeboy is a project started in 1988 by the Rev. Gregory Boyle that aims to get former gang members fresh out of prison back on their feet and on their way to leading normal, productive lives.

"I started burying young kids who were killed in our community," Father Greg, as program members call him, told CNN. "I buried my first in 1988 and just buried my 165th two months ago. So we as a community started to say, 'We have to do something.'"

So do something he did. Father Greg pooled his resources and developed a program that offers ex-gang members both valuable job training and special opportunities for work they may not receive otherwise.

The program is valuable for both participants and the surrounding Los Angeles community, as it strives keep the men involved from reverting to their former lives of drugs and violent crime.

In addition to providing participants with job training and a steady income, the Homeboy program instills important values in the men that the gang lifestyle never could.

"This population really can't afford to just go to school. They are not living at home with their parents. They have no one there, really," Father Greg explained.

Richard Reyes, a recent graduate of the Homeboy program, said that Father Greg gave him his family (his wife, two daughters, and newborn son) back.

"I feel I wasted my life," he said. "I thought being a father was making babies, but being a father is taking an interest in your kids."

"Before, it was all about his gang," Reyes’ wife Susana elaborated. "Now, I know he loves his daughters."

On the heels of President Obama’s push for a greener America, Homeboy’s latest initiatives involve training participants in alternative energy sources such as solar power.