Stanislaus County leaders approved a contract Tuesday with nonprofit Legacy Alliance Outreach to run a program inspired by Homeboy Industries of Southern California.

The agreement is for $1.6 million for Legacy Alliance to provide reentry and rehabilitation services for adults coming out of jail or prison.

Homeboy Industries of Los Angeles is renowned for supporting former inmates and gang members, who work together with a smile in in social enterprise businesses and get support from services and peers to build lives outside prison walls.

Father Gregory Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries, gave inspirational talks in Modesto in 2016, leading to an effort to create a program in Stanislaus County.

Supervisor Terry Withrow said bringing the model to this county took eight years, but it’s a positive step forward. “Most of the time, all we hear is the bad stuff,” Withrow said. “Every now and then something good happens, and this is one of those days.”

Legacy Alliance has worked with formerly incarcerated community members for three years, offering support services, case management, peer support, housing and employment. Michael Baldwin, who served 26 years in prison, is executive director of the unorthodox program that has operated with limited funding.

Boyle launched Homeboy Industries as a ministry, but the county conducted a government RFP (request for proposals) process to choose a vendor for the Stanislaus program. Turlock Gospel Mission and LearningQuest of Modesto also turned in proposals.

According to the Homeboy philosophy, people with the lived experience are a top qualification for this kind of initiative. Baldwin told the board Tuesday that some participants stayed in his duplex when the program started.

Legacy has found housing and jobs for people with criminal backgrounds and also has classes, mentoring, a clothes closet and more.

Alejandro Madrigal said Legacy helped him get a job with a nonprofit housing group and he now lives in one of the homes.

Another participant said the classes and counseling changed the way he thinks, so he’s no longer living the street life. “This program helped me a lot. Now, I think before I act,” he said. “It teaches accountability. I am working now and doing things I never have done before. I provide for my family.”

Tanya Marquez said she coordinates the Legacy clothes closet, helping people get ready for work and with basic necessities. She said the support from others like her changed her life and now she’s helping people make a clean start.

“These are people who don’t have anything,” Marquez said. “It has helped me. I was addicted to drugs or alcohol. I came to Legacy Alliance and now I’m clean and sober for 396 days.”

The county’s initial contract with Legacy, from March 12 to June 30, 2025, calls for Legacy Alliance to provide services to at least 50 men and women from diverse ethnic backgrounds who were formerly in jail or prison. The services will include case coordination, support from peers, navigation, employment services, continuing education, help with basic needs and mental health and skill-building groups.

The services will be anchored in a holistic, trauma-informed and community-focused methodology, a staff report said. The county Board of Supervisors in June 2023 authorized the Public Defender’s Office to establish the pilot program.

The county will collaborate with Legacy Alliance to develop social enterprise programs modeled after Homeboy Industries, which has former inmates and gang members working together in a bakery, restaurant, sandwich shop, silk screen operation and electronics recycling. The county will leverage its workforce services and pursue employment opportunities identified through the Stanislaus 2030 economic development effort.

Programs on a larger scale

Funding for the contract with Legacy comes from Community Corrections Partnership funds through the state. People gave credit to restaurant owner Ann Endsley for supporting Legacy and providing jobs.

“I am elated for the opportunity to be funded to do the work we do on a larger scale,” Baldwin said after the meeting. “We can do what we do without having to piece things together and make it come together in a more robust way.”

Legacy will hire therapists and counselors. In addition, it will start working on a donated building to make a home for the program, most likely using donated materials and skilled labor. Baldwin said the program has a name, Kon-nect, which he described as a special place for “hope dealers.”

County Supervisor Vito Chiesa said the county will be measuring the program’s outcomes.

Supervisor Channce Condit also joined in the unanimous vote approving the agreement. “We are a nation of second chances and sometimes we need a third chance,” he said.