In the Kate Gleason Auditorium of the Bausch and Lomb Library Building is An Evening with Fr. Gregory Boyle of Homeboy Industries.

Fr. Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit priest, founded Homeboy Industries in 1988 during the peak of L.A.'s gang wars. Working first as a parish priest, Fr. Boyle launched an effort to address the escalating problems and unmet needs of gang-involved youth. It developed into Homeboy Industries, one of the largest gang rehabilitation and re-entry programs in the country. Sponsored by the Rochester-Monroe County Anti-Poverty Initiative, this talk is free and open to the public. Homeboy offers an "exit ramp" for those stuck in a cycle of violence and incarceration. Therapeutic and educational offerings (case management, counseling, and classes), practical services (e.g., tattoo removal, work readiness, and legal assistance), and job training-focused businesses (e.g., Homeboy Bakery, Homegirl Café, and Homeboy Silkscreen and Embroidery) provide healing alternatives to gang life, while creating safer and healthier communities. Elements of the Homeboy Industries model have been adopted in 46 communities — from Alabama and Idaho to Guatemala and Scotland. Homeboy Industries provides technical assistance for replication, but not in a franchise way. Communities determine their own needs and have ownership at a local level.

[source: Monroe County Library website, 2016-Nov-28]