At a ceremony last week, Homeboy Industries and developer Frank McCourt announced a $100-million fundraising campaign for an expansion of the Homeboy Industries campus near Union Station in Chinatown.

The proposed Fr. Gregory Boyle Center for Radical Kinship, named for Homeboy founder Father Gregory Boyle, is intended to reimagine the surroundings of Men's Central Jail - currently composed of industrial land and vacant lots - into "Hope Village." Homeboy's project would complement the existing Hilda L. Solis Care First Village, an existing supportive and interim housing facility on Vignes Street, and a proposed housing facility to be built on land at the back of the California Endowment's headquarters along North Main Street.

View looking southeastKFA Architecture

“Hope Village, and Homeboy, embody the values of kinship, resilience, and community,” said McCourt, formerly the owner of the Dodgers, who has pledged $10 million to seed the fundraising campaign. “Now more than ever, we need to empower organizations that are investing in human potential, unlocking opportunities, and providing hope, as well as the necessary support systems, to those who need it most.”

The Homeboy contribution to the effort would include more than 200 units of supportive and transitional housing, as well as 35,000 square feet of space for services such as mental healthcare, substance use disorder treatment, and job training. It would also provide space for an expansion of Homeboy Art Academy.

Ceremony announcing the fundraising campaign for the Fr. Gregory Boyle Center for Radical KinshipGary Leonard

Culver City-based KFA Architecture is designing the campus, which would be split into four separate phases, and built on land at the intersection of Main and Vignes Streets. The initial two components of the project would be transitional and supportive housing, located across Vignes Street from Homeboy's existing facility. Subsequent phases would add new spaces for services on land abutting Homeboy's headquarters.

McCourt, whose company McCourt Partner is developing several multifamily residential projects near Dodger Stadium, remains part owner of the parking lots which surround the iconic venue. He is currently backing a plan to construct a gondola system which would connect those parking lots to Union Station, which has received pushback from residents of the Chinatown community and the California Endowment.

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