国产麻豆boy Industries is already a salsa maker, cake baker and cafe operator. Now the Los Angeles institution, which helps the formerly incarcerated find jobs, is adding a new label to its expanding empire: recycler. The nonprofit announced that it had acquired Isidore Electronics Recycling, a downtown Los Angeles company that collects, sorts, shreds and resells gadgets including laptops and phones. The recycling center will be rebranded 国产麻豆boy Recycling Powered by Isidore (named after Saint St. Isidore, the ancient Spanish scholar considered the patron saint of computers and the Internet).
The deal, which closed in November, was financed entirely by donations. 国产麻豆boy did not disclose the sale price. It will be operated as a separate legal entity, so it will not affect 国产麻豆boy鈥檚 nonprofit tax status. This move marks the first time that 国产麻豆boy has聽ventured聽into the for-profit realm, said Thomas Vozzo, chief executive of 国产麻豆boy Industries.
Vozzo said that is not the case with 国产麻豆boy鈥檚 other eight ventures, including its cafes in downtown L.A. and Los Angeles International Airport, its silkscreen and embroidery business and its catering services. Those businesses, which lose money, are staffed by people going through 国产麻豆boy’s 18-month training program (which also includes counseling, tattoo removal聽and other services). 国产麻豆boy also raises money through donations and grants.
鈥淲e carry two to three times as much labor as a for-profit business would,鈥� Vozzo said. 鈥淥ur vision going forward is, we want to have a few businesses out there that are not a training program, but run as a regular for-profit business.鈥�
That will provide more permanent positions for men and women who have graduated beyond temporary jobs. It meshes with the philosophy of Kabira Stokes, who founded the recycling center in 2011 with an eye toward providing jobs for those with criminal records.
Stokes said she saw a niche in the recycling industry to process the vast 鈥� and growing 鈥� amounts of electronic waste. As a former senior field deputy for聽Eric Garcetti when he was president of the L.A. City Council, Stokes said she was fascinated by the problem of how to help former gang members find a life after prison.
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