Father Greg Boyle from Homeboy Industries Photo Courtesy of Huffington Post
Every so often I come across articles from a magazine, internet, etc., that profoundly resonate with me in some way or another. When I founded the Sheriff’s Community Impact Program back in 2010, I wanted to create an organization that exemplified more than just simply offering activities for “at risk” youth. I was not a fan of the superficial and our leadership team set a course that would ensure our programs included mental health professionals working alongside cops.
The Huffington Post article titled Nothing Stops a Bullet Like a Job was one of those great reads. The Author, Nico Pitney, featured Father Greg Boyle who is also known as “Father G” throughout some of the most gang infested neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
| Gang membership is “about a lethal absence of hope in young people,” he says. “Violence becomes a language, the language of the despondent, of the traumatized, of the mentally ill.” Father Greg Boyle |
His quote begs the question: Are gangs a law enforcement issue or are they a mental health problem? I ask this because a lot of what SCIP is striving to be centers around going after the root causes of juvenile delinquency- About finding ways to break the cycle of poverty and criminal behavior.
I encourage you to read the Huff Post blog today.