Sometime in May 2010, Malibu businessman and activist Bruce Karatz read an op-ed piece about the financial crisis gripping Homeboy Industries (a nonprofit that helps former gang members transition into productive lives) in the L.A. Times. When Karatz was biking with Richard Riordan the next day, he asked the former mayor if he could introduce him to Father Boyle, who founded Homeboy Industries.
“I think I might be able to help,” Karatz said. Nearly three years later, Karatz has helped turn the fiscal picture around for Homeboys, establishing a retail line of chips and salsa currently selling in Ralph’s grocery stores across the southland, helping to open a Homeboys cafeteria on the second floor of Los Angeles City Hall, snagging a retail Homeboys Café and Bakery in the American Airlines terminal at LAX, and introducing a line of Homeboys baked goods sold at about 30 farmers markets around the county, including Malibu’s Sunday market.
“The thing about Homeboys is they help train people who might not normally be considered for employment,” Karatz said. “Homeboys gives them a fighting chance to go out and actually get a good job with a good reference.”
Karatz was raised in Minneapolis and obtained a law degree from USC. As CEO of KB Home (a nationwide home-building venture), he took company revenues from less than $500 million to more than $11 billion, becoming one of the highest-paid CEOs in the country in the process. Under his tenure, KB Home was the first home-building company to help New Orleans rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. Now Karatz is focusing on raising funds for Phoenix House, a nonprofit leader in substance abuse treatment.
It’s part of Karatz’s philosophy.
“There’s not enough money to fix everything,” he said. “You have to show an industry how it can make enough money to be self-sustaining. That’s the secret.”