HomeBridge Ventures of Bridgeport, Conn., and Fairfield University’s Center for Social Impact will host “An Evening With Fr. Gregory Boyle, S.J.” on Thursday, Feb. 29 at 6:30 p.m. at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. Fr. Boyle is the founder of Homeboy Industries, which provides hope, training, and support to former gang members and recently incarcerated men and women. This event is free and open to the public.
Rev. Gregory Boyle, S.J., launched Homeboy Industries in 1988 as a way to help men and women redirect their lives and become contributing members of the East L.A. community. It is now the largest and most successful re-entry and gang intervention program in the world. Homeboy has become a blueprint for hundreds of global initiatives—including HomeBridge Ventures—through the Global Homeboy Network.
"Fr. Greg and Homeboy Industries have transformed thousands of lives,” said David Stubbs, Co-Founder and Executive Director of HomeBridge Ventures. “We at HomeBridge are grateful to be part of the Global Homeboy Network as we look to bring healing, hiring, and hope to the Bridgeport community. "
Fr. Boyle will share how Homeboy Industries has grown to achieve this success and how the model is being replicated through the Global Homeboy Network. He will also discuss how Bridgeport’s HomeBridge Ventures is building on the model in ways that respond to the unique strengths and needs of our local community.
Organizations within the Global Homeboy Network work with justice-involved people to inspire hope and provide employment that changes lives. Programs employ and train high risk youth, former gang members, and the recently incarcerated in a range of social enterprises. They also provide critical educational, vocational, mental health, and legal services to thousands of men and women who walk through their doors every year seeking a better life.
HomeBridge Ventures opened its Bridgeport reentry community center, nicknamed “The Hub”, in November of 2022. It provides a safe space to build community, as well as Cognitive Behavior Therapy, wrap-around services, individual-needs planning, therapeutic activities, workforce readiness training, and more.
Fairfield University’s Center for Social Impact (CSI) is grateful to HomeBridge Ventures for the invitation to co-sponsor this event. CSI’s mission is to connect the campus with the community to create a more just and equitable world. “The opportunity to partner in hosting Fr. Boyle will surely open the door to conversations about how the University can collaborate in support of HomeBridge Venture’s important work locally,” said CSI Director Melissa Quan, EdD.
Father Boyle is the author of the 2010 New York Times bestseller, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion and the 2017 Los Angeles Times bestseller Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship, and the 2021 The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness.
Join us for An Evening With Fr. Gregory Boyle, S.J., at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 29 at the Quick Center for the Arts, located at 1073 North Benson Road, Fairfield, CT 06824. This event is free and open to the general public. Reserve your seat today at https://quickcenter.com/
Image to accompany this release: tbd (headshot of Fr. Boyle - 500 kb+)
Caption: Founder of Homeboy Industries, Father Gregory Boyle, S.J.
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About HomeBridge Ventures
HomeBridge Ventures is a Bridgeport, CT based non-profit organization serving the justice-involved in the city. HomeBridge seeks to break the cycle of recidivism through transformative relationships, trauma-responsive job training and placement, and a supportive community for justice-involved people that leads to the opportunity to heal and to obtain gainful employment. To learn more about HomeBridge, visit www.homebridgeventures.org or call (203) 437-2511.
About Fairfield University
Fairfield University is a modern Jesuit Catholic university rooted in one of the world’s oldest
intellectual and spiritual traditions. More than 6,000 undergraduate and graduate students from the
U.S. and across the globe are pursuing degrees in the University’s five schools. Fairfield embraces
a liberal humanistic approach to education, encouraging critical thinking, cultivating free and open
inquiry, and fostering ethical and religious values. The University is located on a stunning 200-acre
campus on the scenic Connecticut coast just an hour from New York City.