During the 2000s, the Carrie Estelle Doheny Foundation increased funding to areas significant to its founding Catholic values: dignity and life. The dignity found in a job, to provide a home and support for one’s family, is key to a person’s well-being. Access to both medical and housing services to under-resourced pregnant women supports their life choices.
Homeboy Industries was founded in 1988 by Father Gregory Boyle, SJ, to serve one of LA’s most impoverished communities riddled with gang violence. It is now the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the world. The Foundation was an early supporter of its programs and the construction of its offices, bakery, and café. Today, Homeboy Industries serves over 10,000 clients a year, enabling them to find hopeful futures.
Started in 1984 by 22-year-old John Dillon, a former member of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, Chrysalis began providing food and clothing to those experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles. An early supporter, the Foundation has funded a variety of Chrysalis’ programs as it has evolved to change people’s lives through jobs. Today’s general operating support sustains work that aligns with Foundation priorities to empower, inspire, and provide for the welfare of underserved communities.
In Los Angeles there is a shortage of housing, and many women find themselves pregnant and suddenly without a place to live. The Doheny Foundation supports wonderful, caring homes, including Casa de Los Angelitos, Elizabeth House, Harvest Home, and St. Anne’s Family Services where these women can live until they have their babies and are able to get back on their feet. Having a stable place to live, with many services that support both mom and baby, is especially important to the physical and mental health of the mother.
