Helping You R.I.S.E.

RAISING INDIVIDUAL
STANDARDS OF EXCELLENCE

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Alex’s Story

It often takes more than a new name and economic status to remove a stigma of disappointment and failure. Even after a name change, lower crime rate, and population shift, South-Central Los Angeles is still known for its historic reputation of gang violence, drugs and poverty. This is where Alex’s story begins. He was automatically marked as a South-Central statistic. Living hand to mouth in a single-parent household, Alex faced hardship, danger, temptations and the need for survival.

Because of his dysfunctional family dynamics, coupled with poverty, the only thing stable in his life was instability. Alex attended eight different grade schools, learned how to avoid gang routes, and helped at home where he could. Living in a single-parent home with five children was difficult. However, he recognized at an early age that the meaning of life had to be more than the struggle for survival. So he purposed to push forward and persevere. Alex’s ability to envision himself overcoming his circumstances gave him hope that this season of his life was only temporary.

In spite of being raised on the streets of hard knocks, Alex was impressed to stay in school, out of gangs, and off of drugs. As a young adult, family circumstances delayed, but could not deter Alex from spreading his wings. As a result, he was the first university graduate in his family, breaking cycles of generational stigmas and pathologies. He would eventually travel domestically and to various countries abroad, sharing his message of hope and inspiration. Alex’s desire to RISE above his South-Central Los Angeles environment has set him on a course of exploration and service to the forgotten and overlooked.