Global Homeboy Network 2026 Gathering

Onwards and Upwards wants to free ex-offenders from the cycle of reoffending by unlocking jobs that change lives for good. Our aim is to bring employment rates up and reoffending rates down. By creating trusted brands and small, beautiful and loud businesses, we mean to prove that employing ex-offenders makes business sense, so shifting attitudes towards employing them.​

Not every offence should lead to a life sentence. We’re here inside and outside, offering help with training, employment and wellbeing. We set up viable businesses that make proper use of the talent and determination of our employees. We are always practical and commercial in our proposals.  We believe that to be meaningful our businesses must be profitable. And our businesses are sustainable. They are built to last. We currently have two ventures with a third in development.

Salt + Light is transforming the way communities respond to homelessness by creating places where every person is known, valued, and given the opportunity to flourish. Through permanent supportive housing, whole-person care, purposeful work, education, and radical hospitality, Salt + Light is demonstrating that lasting change begins with belonging. 

This session explores The Neighborhood Village—California’s first permanent supportive housing village of its kind—where 53 homes provide not only safe housing, but an intentional community built around dignity, connection, and opportunity. Participants will learn how Salt + Light’s innovative model integrates housing with comprehensive support services, meaningful work, and authentic relationships to help neighbors rebuild their lives and move beyond homelessness. 

Founder and CEO Adrianne Hillman and Jason Quijada, Director of Neighbor Care, will share both the vision behind Salt + Light and the day-to-day realities of bringing that vision to life. Together, they will explore the organization’s guiding values—Dignity, Radical Hospitality, Abundance, Forged Family, Belonging, Compassion, and Love—and the lessons learned from building a nationally recognized model of care. Combining the founder’s perspective with frontline leadership, they will offer practical insights into creating communities where hope is restored, lives are transformed, and people are reminded that homelessness is a condition, not a character trait, and that healing happens through compassion, connection, and community. 

GRASP formed in the early nineties to address the disproportionate burden that gang violence was exacting on youth and communities of color. GRASP now provides a full spectrum of intervention to prevention services for youth who are or are at-risk of becoming gang-involved or involved in other high-risk activities that intersect with violence. GRASP runs eight programs and initiatives providing violence prevention in schools and community settings to address trauma and interrupt cycles of violence. In their session, GRASP will share key elements of their programming that includes: 

• GRASP Enterprises, our social enterprise, providing GE Academy for technical training, soft skills support, and mentorship connections for youth hoping to secure and maintain employment 

• The REACH Clinic provides multi-sector wrap around services for individuals injured through community violence 

• AIM (At-risk Intervention and Mentoring) utilizes a public health approach to guide trauma-informed care, with credible messengers who respond at the three regional level-I trauma centers in the Denver Metro area 

• Partners Adolescent Mentoring which pairs youth with adult partners 

• My Outdoor Colorado (MOC) providing equity in access to the outdoors for youth and families, in local parks and nature 

• Hummingbird Initiative (HBI) delivering introduction to and training within a variety of healthcare professions and settings for youth of color 

• The STAR program offering co-response with the Denver Police Department to de-escalate behavioral and mental health crises in the community and the provision of case management to support client-led goals 

This session will share how healing trauma has influenced an investment in community and system partnerships to disrupt impulse-to-violence and generational gang activity. Project Restore championed by Brooklyn, NY’s District Attorney’s Office brought Inside Circle’s intensive healing approach to a housing project tormented by violence resulting in former rivals working together for a safer community.   

Chicago has experienced significant reductions in community violence through the work of outreach workers, faith leaders, artists, and neighborhood organizations committed to building peace together. In this session, leaders from New Life Centers will share lessons from more than 20 years of community-based violence intervention, outreach, and healing. Panelists will offer an honest look at what’s working, where they continue to struggle, and how faith, relationships, and the arts are helping build safer, stronger communities. Participants will leave with practical strategies, real-world lessons, and renewed hope for strengthening peace in their own communities. 

Project Kinship was inspired by the transformative legacy of Homeboy Industries and the belief that relationships create transformation where hope lives. While Project Kinship works with both youth and adults, this workshop will focus on our youth work and how the Kinship Model of Kinship Works, Kinship Learns, and Kinship Heals guides our approach. 

Participants will learn how Project Kinship walks alongside young people through connection, growth, and healing across schools, juvenile justice systems, detention facilities, and community partnerships. Rooted in Homeboy Industries and the Global Homeboy Network, this session highlights how Project Kinship creates pathways of belonging and transformation for youth while collaborating with systems and communities.

Interested in starting a social enterprise? Take a deep dive into the operations and financial aspects of starting and scaling a business that has purpose and profit. This session will unpack the core elements of launching a social enterprise that balances mission with margin. 

Explore how Homeboy Industries advances systemic change through policy, advocacy, and community engagement. This session will delve into the intersection of government funding, legislative work, and public education—highlighting how Homeboy stands with marginalized communities, promotes healing, and invests in futures rooted in equity and opportunity. Learn how advocacy efforts support individuals impacted by incarceration, violence, and reentry, while shaping policies that remove barriers and foster transformation.

This session will share the strategies that have helped amplify Homeboy’s mission to move the organization forward. Together, we will explore how Homeboy Industries utilizes earned media, social media and marketing practices grounded in storytelling to amplify mission, message, to connect with supporters, raise awareness and call to action. The session will share creative insights and practical tools to enhance the marketing efforts of your organizations, while working to stay true to mission and social justice.

Join us for a presentation and community conversation on wellness in our community, exploring challenges, vulnerabilities and strengths. Representatives from our mental health, recovery and connection, domestic violence, and Homeboy Gym teams will lead the conversation.  

Through shared experiences and practical insights, this session will explore fundraising best practices to elevate the mission and drive impact for our community. Attendees will go home with new strategies to advance their organizations, fostering communal learning and impactful fundraising practices. This conversation will be led by Social Impact Leader, Eduardo Cetlin. 

Education is fundamental to our 18-month program. For Life Skills and Academic education to happen, relationships made in therapeutic communities are essential. In our HopeU classroom spaces, we learn that we all have the power to heal, to see the truth of who we genuinely are, to reunite with our families, to be incredible parents and impactful community members, and that our experiences not only matter, but are key to a more inclusive tomorrow. Our educational foundation is rooted in the understanding that every person comes into our spaces with knowledge—we are all teachers, and we are all students. It is essential to identify that historically, learning spaces have not always been welcoming, hospitable, or empowering. In acknowledging this, we are able to work through this truth and create counter cultural spaces that incentivize change.  

Attendees will gain insight into designing educational services that address the whole person. We will share strategies for fostering resilience, increasing engagement, and creating learning environments that promote healing, dignity, and opportunity for people impacted by incarceration and other systemic barriers.

The importance of making a trainee feel seen and heard through the lens of compassion and relationship-building while walking towards self-actualization.