Father Gregory Boyle, nationally acclaimed gang interventionist and New York Times Bestselling author, will deliver the keynote address at the fourth annual Orange County Gang Intervention Conference. Boyle is founder of Homeboy Industries, a nonprofit economic development enterprise and the nation’s largest gang intervention, rehabilitation and re-entry program He will receive UCI’s 2013 Citizen Peacebuilding Award.

April 2, 2013
9:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
UCI Bren Events Center

The plenary session with Boyle, and other speakers will be from 9:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Workshops following lunch served to all registered conference participants will feature current knowledge, practices, and resources in gang prevention, intervention and re-entry.

Register online at http://ocdegangconference.eventbrite.com.

About the speaker:
Father Gregory Boyle received his bachelor's in English from Gonzaga University, master's in English from Loyola Marymount University and advanced theology degrees from The Weston School of Theology and the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley. He has taught at Loyola High School in Los Angeles; was chaplain in the Islas Marias Penal Colony in Mexico and at Folsom prison; and worked with Christian Base Communities in Cochabamba, Bolivia. He was appointed pastor of Dolores Mission Church in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1986 where he served through 1992. He founded Homeboy Bakery to provide rival gang members training, work experience, and the opportunity to work side by side. The bakery grew into Homeboy Industries, a nonprofit economic development enterprise which includes Homeboy Bakery, Homeboy Silkscreen, Homeboy/Homegirl Merchandise, Homeboy Diner, Homeboy Farmers Markets and Homegirl Café. It is the largest gang intervention, re-hab and re-entry program in the United States. Boyle is the author of the New York Times Bestseller, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, which has been honored by SCIBA (Southern California Indie Booksellers Association), Pen USA, Publishers Weekly, and Goodreads Choice Awards. He has received numerous honorary degrees, awards and recognitions including the Civic Medal of Honor, California Peace Prize, Humanitarian of the Year from Bon Appetit Magazine, and in 2011, he was inducted into the California Hall of Fame. He has served on the State Commission for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, National Youth Gang Center Board and Attorney General’s Defending Childhood Task Force.

About the conference:
The conference is supported by the Orange County Department of Education’s Safe Schools & Support Services unit, the UC Irvine School of Social Sciences’ Center for Citizen Peacebuilding, UC Irvine’s Office of Civic & Community Engagement, and the University of Southern California. Prior UCI Citizen Peacebuilding Award winners include the Dalai Lama, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev, and Kenyan environmental and political activist Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

For further information, please contact Paula Garb, 949-824-1227, or Jim Perez and Steve Kim, 714-953-6513.