A new gym has opened inside Homeboy Industries in downtown Los Angeles, giving former gang members and people in recovery a dedicated space built around physical and mental well-being. The Tyson Foundation and Homeboy Industries opened the area this week, adding another layer of support to an organization already known for its job training and counseling programs.
The gym was inaugurated by the Tyson Foundation, according to the Los Angeles Times, whose video journalist Brenda Elizondo covered the unveiling. The new space is meant to provide opportunities for training and personal growth for the former gang members and people in recovery served by the Los Angeles program, per the same report. The gift comes from the Mike Tyson Cares Foundation, which funds wellness programming and second-chance initiatives for lower-income communities, according to the Mike Tyson Cares Foundation.
Fitness Was Already Part of the Healing Model
The idea of using physical training as a recovery tool at Homeboy Industries didn't start with this gym. DEUCE Community Inc., a Venice-based non-profit, previously built an initial gym facility at Homeboy Industries and ran strength and conditioning classes for justice-impacted individuals, laying groundwork for the expanded fitness center now supported by Tyson, according to DEUCE Gym. It remains an open question whether DEUCE Community coaches or internal Homeboy staff will manage day-to-day training at the new facility, and how the space will be woven into the organization's broader 18-month curriculum, per the same source.
Fitness now sits alongside other physical transformation services offered at Homeboy Industries, including free laser tattoo removal, one of the organization's highest-volume offerings. The program provides nearly 1,000 tattoo-removal treatments each month to remove gang-related or visible markings from hands, necks, and faces so participants can pursue traditional employment, according to Homeboy Industries.
A Program Built to Move Thousands Toward Jobs
Homeboy Industries assists nearly 10,000 people annually across Los Angeles and enrolls roughly 500 to 900 trainees at a time in its flagship 18-month paid rehabilitation and job-training program, according to Loyola Marymount University. That program integrates mental health counseling, case management, and job placement alongside the physical services now expanding with the new gym. Participants can eventually move into paid work at one of the organization's 14 revenue-generating social enterprises, including Homeboy Bakery, Homegirl Cafe, electronics recycling, and dog grooming, which hire program participants after 90 days of training, per a Reddit post detailing the organization's structure.
Homeboy Industries traces its roots to 1988, when Jesuit priest Father Gregory Boyle founded it at Dolores Mission Church in East Los Angeles under the name Jobs for a Future, during a period of Los Angeles gang violence known as the decade of death, according to the National Gang Center. It has since grown into the world's largest gang intervention and reentry program. Father Boyle's work earned him the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden in May 2024, the nation's highest civilian honor, a milestone Hoodline noted when he also received an honorary doctorate at Cal State LA's commencement.
Part of a Larger Expansion Across the City
The new gym lands amid a period of significant physical growth for Homeboy Industries. In October 2025, the organization launched a $100 million capital campaign anchored by a $10 million lead gift from developer Frank McCourt, aiming to add 200 units of transitional housing and 35,000 square feet of health care, therapy, and job-training space near Men's Central Jail, according to the Los Angeles Times. That project, dubbed Hope Village, is designed to support formerly incarcerated individuals as they reenter the community.
Homeboy Industries has also been expanding elsewhere in Southern California. In June 2026, the organization opened a Homeboy Cafe location at the Mark Ridley-Thomas Behavioral Health Center on the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital campus in South LA, serving hospital staff, patients, and local residents while employing program participants, as reported by CBS Los Angeles.
The Stakes Behind the Recovery Model
Programs modeled on Homeboy Industries' holistic approach have shown measurable results elsewhere. Specialized community reentry programs report participant recidivism rates as low as 3%, compared with a national average that exceeds 50% for formerly incarcerated individuals, according to Rise Up Industries. That gap underscores why organizations like Homeboy Industries lean on multiple forms of support — counseling, job training, tattoo removal, and now an expanded gym — rather than any single intervention.
For now, the new gym stands as the latest piece of that model, backed by a boxing legend's foundation and built on training programs that trace back to DEUCE Community's earlier work at the site. Whether the space becomes a formal part of Homeboy's 18-month curriculum, and who ultimately runs it day to day, remains to be seen.
