At Puppy Fades dog salon, the formerly incarcerated get a second chance

Homeboy Industries, the leading East Los Angeles-based gang intervention, rehabilitation and reentry program, held a grand opening ceremony on Monday for their latest social enterprise: Puppy Fades.

Located on Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena, Puppy Fades is not only a dog grooming salon, but also a place that’s meaningfully changing the lives of formerly incarcerated individuals as they reintegrate into society.

“We invite all dog owners to come to Puppy Fades not just to receive exceptional care from our talented staff, but so that they might join our community of kinship and be a part of the idea that we belong to each other,” said co-CEO of Homeboy Industries, Steve Delgado, who was in attendance along with the founder, Father Gregory Boyle, Senior Advisor Tom Vozzo and Pasadena Mayor Victor M. Gordo.

The grooming salon had a soft launch on Feb. 1 and received a five-star rating.

Its team is made up of two managers and four professionally certified dog groomers from the West Coast Grooming Academy.

Before working in any of Homeboy Industries social enterprises, formerly incarcerated individuals are required to complete an 18-month training program.

There they are offered an opportunity and the tools to heal, transform their lives and contribute to the community.

Evelyn Sanchez grooming Whiskey.

(Homeboy Industries)

“From the age of 15 to 23, I pretty much [was] in and out of the jail system,” said Richard Orea, a dog groomer at Puppy Fades. “I tried being a part of society, but it never worked out my way.”

Two years ago, Orea joined Homeboy Industries to find a new way of life after he got out of CRI-HELP, a treatment facility in North Hollywood, where he recovered from addiction to crystal meth.

Now he’s proud to be “back into the real world” and work with dogs.

“Having a schedule, coming to work on time and meeting clients has helped me get back into the community after isolating,” said the 36-year-old Whittier native. “I get socially awkward interacting with people, [but with] pets, it seems to work out for me.”

For Evelyn Sanchez, being around dogs is also therapeutic.

Born and raised in East Los Angeles, Sanchez was incarcerated after being charged with the intent to distribute fentanyl. Now six years sober from cocaine, she’s surrounded with “better peers, different people and a whole different society.”

She joined Homeboy Industries in January 2023 and initially worked for three months at the company’s electronics and apparel recycling enterprise.

“It’s important for me to come back to society because I was on the wrong path,” said the 39-year-old, who had just finished grooming Malaysia, a gray Shih Tzu. “I didn’t know better, but working [at Puppy Fades] showed me a purpose in life, how to socialize more and be open-minded to other things.”

Father Boyle ended the grand opening ceremony by reflecting on the last words of the late Pope Francis, who called for peace and trust before he passed away on Monday morning.

“Contempt is stirred up against people who are vulnerable, on the margins and migrants,” said Father Boyle, who paraphrased the pope’s final Easter address. “I think we might add gang members, returning citizens and the poor whose dignity has been denied.”

“[Our] purpose is to continue to [relay] the message of, ‘What if we were to invest in people rather than just incarcerate our way out of our problems?’” posed Father Boyle. “That’s what [Puppy Fades] represents.”