When Jose Arellano was a little kid, school was a respite from his tumultuous home life. Most of his family was involved in gangs, including his mom, who also was addicted to methamphetamine. And though he had vowed never to join a gang, by the time he reached adolescence, it felt like the only choice.
As a result, Jose spent much of his youth and young adulthood incarcerated. During one stint in prison, he learned his mother had died, and the news sparked a desire to change. “I got to a point in my life where I thought, like, there was no hope for me. And when my mother died, I think something inside of me broke. You know, and 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,” Jose said in a recent news story.
That’s when he sought help from Homeboy Industries, an LA-based nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of former gang members. Catholic priest Father Greg Boyle started the organization in 1988, and now it serves as a blueprint for similar efforts around the world.
Today, Jose is vice president of Homeboy Industries — and he’ll be joining us at the 2024 Festival of Faiths, where he’ll participate in the session Interrogating Imaginations on Thursday, Nov. 14, at 12:30 p.m. The panel will explore the power of deconstructing negative narratives and replacing them with positive ones, and consider how religious beliefs and spiritual practices can influence these perceptions and be harnessed to promote unity and deeper understanding.
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