LILY RESLINK
Staff Writer
At 2 p.m. today in the Hall of Philosophy, Homeboy Industries’ Vice President of Operations Jose Arellano will return to Interfaith Lecture Series to open Week Nine’s theme,
“The Importance of Gathering: Cultivating the Beloved Community.”
“Hope has an address: 130 West Bruno,” Arellano said, referring to the location of Homeboy Industries.
His lecture today will center around “experience, strength and hope,” he said. Tracing the journeys of himself and other Homies, as members of Homeboy Industries are called, he said he wants to offer takeaways demonstrating that hope prevails.
Founded by Week Nine chaplain Fr. Greg Boyle, S.J., Homeboy Industries is an acclaimed program for gang intervention, rehabilitation and re-entry. Based in Los Angeles, the program is the largest of its kind in the world.
Arellano lived fully immersed in the brutality of gang culture that had consumed his family for three generations, but entered Homeboy Industries as a trainee in 2013. He then advanced to director of case management in 2017 and to his current position in 2019, forging an entirely new life for himself.
“There are organizations that instill hope into people, and just by giving a little bit of hope, you can watch how people can flourish,” Arellano said.
In his first Interfaith Lecture delivered in 2021, joined by Steve Avalos, his co-director of case management and navigation at Homeboy Industries at the time, Arellano shared how surviving a life marked by gangs and prison ultimately led him to find purpose in helping others break free as he did.
In his lecture today, Arellano said he will implement more storytelling about his journey to his new life as a Homie.
He said his lecture will outline his journey of “what it was like (as a gang member), what happened and what it’s like now and what we’re doing as an organization to continue that for others.”
Homeboy Industries is an organization with international acclaim, but for a week each summer since 2012, Chautauqua has become a home for a few Homies.
As recorded in a 2022 Daily article, former Director of Religion Maureen Rovegno said at the time of her tenure that when Boyle first came to Chautauqua in 2012, “everybody just fell in love with him, and people told him, ‘Come back, but bring the Homies.’ ” The following year, Boyle returned with two Homies.
In his 2021 Interfaith Lecture, Arellano spoke about gratitude toward Chautauqua as a place to share stories and receive acceptance.
“There’s something I feel here in Chautauqua,” Arellano said. “You guys make us feel like we’re a part of you, and that’s special, and that’s divine and that’s holy.”
He said this kind of inclusivity is a catalyst for doing something greater with life: “When you’re in a safe place, you can find out the truth about who you truly are, and when you begin there, everything in your life will begin to change.”
On many platforms, Arellano has been candid about his childhood surrounded by gang culture, the devastating loss of his cousin, the point in his life where he thought there was no hope left for him and how that led him to seek help from Homeboy Industries.
In a 2023 interview with local Spectrum News 1 in Rochester, he said, “When my mother died, I think something inside of me broke. I know it sounds crazy, but my mother did more for me in death than she was able to do for me in life. The death of my mother was like the beginning of a new life for me.”
In his previous Interfaith Lecture, Arellano outlined his experience as a preteen witnessing his mom’s addiction to methamphetamines.
“We became more and more poor,” he said. “Lights were getting turned off; even the water got turned off.” He described how his own home became a hub for gang members, and he was led down a tumultuous path to incarceration.
Today, he is dedicated to helping others break free from violence, addiction and trauma. He has described the gratification he feels from a life devoted to offering hope and guidance to others starting anew.
“It’s my honor to be able to continue to be there now in a leadership position, to help create experiences that help people see the truth about their lives,” he said in his 2021 lecture. “That they’re exactly what God had in mind when God created them, that they’re worthy no matter what they’ve done or what they’ve been through.”
