Talk of the Town: Mitchell Barocio and Joe Woolwine

From the Oakland Hills to Jack London Square, from the port to the Coliseum, this is Talk of the Town, an in-depth conversation about the people and issues important to Oakland. Hello, I'm Dave Clark. I'm your host on Talk of the Town, and I'm really glad that you're here with us. I have two men that I wanted to talk to, and I wanted to talk to them, gosh, after I met one of them, I knew right away I wanted them to come on Talk of the Town. So we're talking about turning lives around and creating new beginnings. My guest today, Mitchell Borossio. Mitchell Borossio and Pastor Joe Woolwine of Victory Outreach in Concord, California. First of all, I'm so happy you both are here. I'm trying not to be giddy about it. But I like good things and people who do good things. And you two are involved in good things and we'll have plenty of time to talk about what it is you're doing. So first, thank you for being here. Thank you for having us. Thank you so much. We're going to have plenty of time to talk about the things you do, how you you're turning lives around. Pastor, I'm going to start with you. I'll get back to you, Mitchell. But, Pastor, how are you helping to turn around lives of men and women here in the Bay Area? Yeah. So I'm actually a product of Victory Outreach. They started in 1967 right there in Eliso Village in Los Angeles. And what began as a small vision, small ministry there has spread across the entire world, you know. And so I actually ended up a product of, you know, gang violence, drug addiction, all of that madness. And my family was looking to basically find help for me. And so in 2005, when I was lost and I was hurting, when I had no direction in my life, I ended up walking through the doors of Victory Outreach right there in San Jose. It was a chapter there. And ever since then, my life has been completely transformed. And so throughout that process, I was able to go from one stage of life to another and to another. And today I'm actually a pastor right there in Victory Outreach, Concord, doing the very thing that was done for me and uh today we have a chapter right there in Victory Outreach Concord and and i just took over gosh what was it four months ago yeah so so it's relatively new for me and the same thing that was done for me we're doing that same thing for lives right here in the bay area we take in men and women fresh off the streets fresh out of incarceration fresh out of prostitution fresh out of some of them being trafficked and and we introduce them to a very real God that's able to make a very real change in their life and so they actually live with us for an entire year yeah free of charge and from that place we're able to then partner with other local businesses such as Mitch stuff like that and help them get to the next level of their life that's fascinating I love it and Mitchell let me ask you how did you come to this well I'm a product of Victory outreach also um you know i got saved back in uh like in 96 my son was one years old and i was living a life that you know was one of those lives out there and not doing the best things for the community and uh i ended up walking into a church and hearing the gospel preach in uh in Richmond California and God just sapped me there changed my life you know we were we i had businesses i was in business but i could not i wanted to go to the next level yeah and i was just like but the the world just the things of the world just held me back and i couldn't get a breakthrough but once i heard the gospel preached and Victory Outreach was there um ministering and i knew some of the people there that were in the church and i said if God could change their life i knew my life could be changed and so um just walked in and uh heard the gospel and my wife was with me and we were having a little bit of tribulations a little you know times trying times but man after i heard you know the news the good news i just changed and i my businesses just went from they just started elevating and i said you know what if i can do it and come off what i came out of i know i can help other people and i never forgot in these last 30 years that what he did he has he did for me so i continue to give back and i have businesses which we partner up with the outreach and we bring after they graduate we help them elevate into you know a productive uh citizen in in the communities you know so we partner up with the outreach and with uh the businesses and the churches when they get together it's very it's like it's a dynamic duo because it can change the whole city not just the person it changes a person's life changes their family their children's life their their their their whole trajectory of life you know we get them coming in really young you know i mean i don't know 16 17 18 they you know i think joe is how old were you you were young Yeah, they they actually took me in when I was 16 years old 16 Yeah, and so my family had a good family had a good family that loved me You know, I had like I had everything kind of set for me But for whatever reason I found myself lost out there and they didn't really know what to do with with my situation So they they they reached out to Victory Outreach I was only 16 years old and they they I was probably the biggest liability I don't a Lot of 16 year olds. Yeah. Yeah, I still today when I look back I think, why in the world would they take that chance? I mean, they really took a chance on me. But I mean, today, everything that I have in my life, everything that I am, I mean, I met my wife in Victory Outreach My children were born there. Today, you know, we own multiple businesses. I'm a realtor. Like, everything goes back to somebody eventually taking a chance on me. Taking a chance. Yes. Taking a chance. Let me, before we go any further, if someone's listening and watching us now, they want to contact Victory Outreach, is there a phone number or or website that they can call yeah you can go to www.victoryoutreach.org very simple yeah very simple and i would say that it might be better to reach out to their local Victory Outreach chapter because we are a parachurch organization yeah so we have our Victory Outreach family and we have different chapters throughout throughout different cities i mean we're in six out of seven continents in world. I mean, we're all over the world. Yeah. And so it's just amazing to see kind of, you know, so you would put in Victory Outreach and then your city. So if you're near us, Victory Outreach Concord, we have one in Oakland. We have one in Richmond. We have another one. I mean, we're all over the place, really. We have one in San Jose, all over the place. All over pretty much every inner city of the world. That's right. It's really important. You know, I need to brag on your wives too because they're doing great things too tell me about Mitchell yes well Laura my wife i mean she's the the one the glue that keeps it all together kind of like you know she's like the quiet one but she's very um it's very in her quietness and her meekness there's a lot of power in that and just leading us and helping us come alongside me to to encourage me because you still go through things and trials and tribulations and and so she puts keeps it all together and with her um with her leadership in our businesses we have a few businesses uh we have the Barocio Group which is our real estate company she has the staging part of a staging company that works alongside the Barocio Group and then we have a construction company and different kind of flooring businesses and stuff that we can get the well i'll let you get to what we want to talk about what the the men's home and the women's homes after they graduate we bring them in and they we help elevate them into uh society you know by giving them a purpose and a hope and like you know i when i was when i came out i just wanted somebody to tell me you can do it you you have the ability you have the capability of doing it but you have to put things together right and And having Laura, she had a good sense on her. She was the good goody. I was the one that was causing all the back in the days. But, you know, it just reflects now, 30 years later, you just see, even before 30 years, I mean, even after graduate, just coming out of the church, coming out of the ministry and starting and working, not forgetting that where you came from. That's important. so many people uh forget that that's a spiritual benchmark for me like man i knew where i was and if it wasn't through the help of this ministry i know where i would be even though i tend to have another local church that i work alongside with uh pastor napoleon kaufman at the well church in livermore he has a very great reputation too yeah he's an awesome man of god and he supports me to support supporting the outreach we work together i mean he he you know he would never stop you know just because he's a different ministry he never stopped he has his own outreach program on fridays it's more of a they have a food uh they give groceries and food to those that are in you know that are are you know especially in these times they give a lot of food out and bags of food up in livermore on fridays and that's a that's a and they're doing to work also we're doing the work there also right but what would i do my calling in my ministry is just me and laura's ministry is just to help them coming out of the home giving them opportunity and see if we can get them giving them a purpose for purpose say that the website one more time it's www.victoryoutreach.org okay we're going to say that several times for whatever city where we're in. But we're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. And I'll meet you back right here on Talk of the Town. Welcome back to Talk of the Town. I'm your host, Dave Clark. Very glad that you're here with me. I have two men who are with me, Mitchell Borossio of the Borossio Group and Pastor Joel Woolwine of Victory Outreach in Concord, California. And there are stories to tell of lives who were changed you were talking about a particularly a particular young lady whose lives victory outreach has helped to turn around that's right yeah so we actually had a lady come into our come into our program and uh had just gone through the worst of it she had gone through the worst of it at the point of her life she was not only drug addicted but it had led to being a prostitute in the street and even just the way she tells her story that there was a time that And she, you know, she was in the hotel room and she was with her kid. She was trying to like get possession of her child for whatever reason. She had lost him at that time and ended up overdosing in front of her own son. And they had to resuscitate her. I mean, she really comes from a powerful background of just like true ashes of society and was able to come in through our program. we introduced her to Christ and seen her whole life i mean her dignity her mentality or her purpose and she realized that she had a passion for music and started giving herself to that and and then in that process uh just seen a radical transformation i mean if i was to introduce you to to this girl you you would never believe where she'd been where she had been and kind of the upbringing that she had and then when you partner together with people like the Brosio group that are able to you know because Victory Outreach we believe in giving people second chances yeah you know but when you partner with local businesses like the Brosio group it helps give those second chances a paycheck and it helps give those second chances very important the next and i i like kind of the way that he said you know that like once they graduate uh him and his wife they say you know we feel the calling or we feel the purpose in helping them elevate go to another level because we could help restore dignity we can help restore you know direction purpose many of them go on to you know if whether it's men or women many of them go on to be pastors many of them go on to be evangelists many of them go on to be missionaries in different parts of the world I mean we've really seen God do something powerful with the foolish things of the world yeah and then there are those that need to get back on their feet and they they need to get their children back and that was actually this this girl's particular situation to which we've seen uh she ended up going on to work with you right yes she so during the transformation we uh we're in communication always with the pastors and uh the leaders of the homes just to see where if they have an individual that needs is going to about is it going to graduate in the next six months so we start watching them they start coming doing little tasks in slowly but surely surely just seeing seeing where they're at you know we give them a little responsibility you know we're working with the public now they have to be able to to communicate right and they have to be willing to let that pass go because you know they they're we're dealing with like hardcore yeah people that went through some things you know so we wait we communicate we give them opportunities so we for our own eyes that we know that we feel comfortable so yes like this individual we're speaking about she came to come she came to work into our offices and she became my assistant sales assistant and uh at first she didn't she was just started just cleaning the the the the the restrooms and cleaning working and you know just doing filing and small job great personality yeah it was too it was her personality was too good too much to keep her back exactly so you see these diamonds that are in the rough and you say you know what god is doing something in her life and so she come so after we elevate her we bring her into sales and she just took off and um it like you would have never known that she was ever had that lifestyle but when she shares it with her passion because she's so grateful yeah for what is happening in her new life she's her kids are back her her family received her family are like they said what happened who changed this lady you know and so then we get the opportunity to help them to you know get back into society become uh you know a productive member of society and become good at great what they do so she's now uh she's part of a uh the ministry still and she's no longer working with me but she got off her feet and she came through us you know yeah you know what i love about her too she always points back to Darcy she always points back and says man i love that family you know i love that family they helped me they helped me get up on my feet and then she's just one she's that's just one story i mean today today victory outreach you know we're talking about here locally right but worldwide we have 400 homes across the entire world that at any given time we have anywhere between four and six thousand men and women that live with us free of charge they never get a bill they never get and they live with us not for three months not for six months but for an entire year they live with us you know i raised my children in this kind of home where we're pulling people in off the street and i think it's just a beautiful thing that especially the way that he uses the term we see a diamond in the rough and that actually goes back to our promise in isaiah chapter 45 verses 2 and 3 where god told our founder i'm going to give you treasures out of darkness and riches stored in secret places and and and obviously that being people people treasures that are stored in darkness and and it's just amazing to see not only what god is able to do on a local level but that we're able to see what god can do on a global level through a local effort you know so we're we're a local fire i guess you could say but there's a global movement there and and like not too long from now i'm going to be getting on a plane we're going to be going to south africa where in south africa we in we started one home and that one home has now turned into eight churches throughout the entire country of south africa right we're just now breaking into the rest of Africa going into Namibia and we have hundreds if not thousands up to this point over the last 20 years i think it's been in South Africa of lives that have been radically changed through the same message see i love this and again we're talking about the great work of Victory Outreach and two members uh Mitchell Barocio of the Barocio Group and pastor Joel Woolwine of Victory Outreach in Concord, California. So just relax. We're going to talk some more because I want to find out some more. You take a break with us. We'll be right back here on Talk of the Town. Welcome back to Talk of the Town. I'm your host, Dave Clark, and I'm talking with two great men who are representing Victory Outreach of Concord, California. I have Joe Barocio up Mitch Barocio see there's no joe there's mitch mitch Barocio and pastor Joe Woolwine of Victory Outreach of Concord and i wanted to talk about how the businesses that you both are involved in help to turn around lives welcome people your businesses tell me about right yeah so we own a real estate and business here in the bay area which we serve throughout uh for the last uh seven years yeah we've been we we were we had a what's it called it's called the Barocio Group okay it's the Barocio Group then we and we bring on um like pastor joe Woolwine's a part of our team he's he's got his license and we just help and create opportunities for people after you know you get your license you would come on but we have another section of our real estate company another uh aspect and that's the staging company that we we have and And that's my wife's life. And she brings the women that are coming out to come help, give them an opportunity to learn what she does. And when you say staging, they help prepare those houses, homes that were you going to be selling? Yeah. So, OK. Yeah, we'd work throughout the Bay Area. So what I do, I'm actually work with investors and other entrepreneurs, you know, fixing up opportunities in throughout the Bay Area, getting their houses ready for my background is in construction. so i understand the the process so i have engineers architects i have co co uh uh designers that work for me already so we get these properties ready for you know if for investment opportunities and we use the home and we use different aspects of the outreach or different just different people that are broken that need opportunities you know you know you got to look at broken people like there's they they have something to offer if you could just get in and dig in their life spend a little time with them and find out what's really going on with someone yeah then we bring them in you know we say hey you know this is what i did this would help me they always ask what how did you do it yeah well i started here right now i'm here and so i i i have a call for the businesses throughout the the country the nation or to start partner up with your local church and and be a staple and never forget where you came from and go back and help because sometimes we get on our feet and guess what we do we forget about everything don't look back yeah we don't look back you got you that's a great great point you agree with that one 100 yeah so i share in that responsibility wholeheartedly yeah my wife and i were very entrepreneurial so okay and we both kind of have a similar story so then with that uh we started believing god for our first home which may not sound like a big deal but it was a big deal for us coming from what we come from we ended up getting our first home and then our second home and then before you know it through just being inspired and watching people like Mitch and watching other people like become something great alongside that we started saying you know maybe we could own a business and so we bought our first business which was a gym right there in San Jose California we still own today we purchased an auto body shops and then got that going you know i ended up selling that over some time and started another company here and then eventually i said man what am i doing i love real estate i need to get into real estate so i i think that's where we ended up really connecting yeah and uh and then what's beautiful about it is is it does a number of different things one one is uh obviously you make decent money from there you know a lot of people can make good money but what about making impact yeah yeah and i i think there's there's a level of inspiration that happens when you're not just making money but when you come from what we come from and then you're also helping people come from that they get inspired yeah and i think inspiration never goes on sale when you inspire somebody to become something more than what they are and you're able to say look uh i wasn't given a handout i come from the same thing you come from yeah and you can be this you can do this i think i think that that's something that's priceless i think it transcends generation i think it transcends race i think it transcends nationality i think it trans inspiration is a powerful thing yeah and when people can be in the bottom or be in a hard place in their life and be inspired from people that say man that are actually doing it yeah actually doing it and uh i love the Brocchio Group and and what we've been able to do up to this point yes so my son Silvano and my other son is Stevan they they're all involved in the in the whole no okay actually it's a family it's a family thing but i'm my son Silvano runs the whole Brocchio Group team Silvano's a man yeah he's the man okay he you know he's and i i come under i like it like that because i don't have all that other responsibility let the young ones get that responsibility and i could go out and and and do what i got to do stay focused and the heart of keep the heart of it the heartbeat of just always reaching back and my son is Steph on and he's actually one that kind of made Silvano through his uh through his instagram and uh his uh the media the media part aspect of it and i love this you know i told you we can talk all day but we're running out of time yeah i want to mention once again, if someone's sitting at home watching us, how can they be the next you? How can they reach out to you? Well, they can reach out to me, Mitch, at thebrocchiogroup.com. That's, you know, they can give us a call or you can call the, you know, just look us up at thebrocchiogroup, www.thebrocchiogroup.com and get opportunity. But I think it all first starts with, you know, reaching out, making a step forward so that we can meet them, you know, and, you know, just, of, you know, we like the broken, but we take, we work with everyone. And victoryoutreach.com. No matter what part of the country, the world you're in. Gentlemen, I want to thank you. Mitchell Borossio, the Borossio Group and Pastor Joel Woolwine. Thank you guys for being here. You were perfect. Thank you. Period. You couldn't have done any better. Appreciate you. And I thank you for being with us as well. We'll see you next time right here on Talk of the Town.