As a teenager growing up in the Pico-Union barrio, which has one of the highest murder rates in all of Los Angeles, William Portillo was heavily involved in gangs and drugs.

Today, the 36-year-old married man is a youth minister and addictions counselor at St. Thomas the Apostle Church. And, in 1998, he founded Prevencion y Rescate (Prevention and Rescue), an intense prevention and intervention program for families involved with drugs, alcohol and gangs. The grass-roots nonprofit now has some 30 chapters here in California and other states.

How did this unlikely transformation come about?

Portillo credits a holistic effort called the Ascending Lights Leadership Network, which made it possible for a 30-something, street-wise young man many others had given up on to attend Los Angeles City College, where he earned a certificate in Drug and Alcohol Counseling.

"Ascending Lights definitely helped a lot because it didn't just include money for tuition and books and anything else that I needed," he told The Tidings. "But it also included tutoring and mentoring, and my mentor, Dr. Gabe Veas, is a huge inspiration to me, because he is barely 27 years old and has a doctoral degree in education psychology from USC. And that very much inspires me to continue with my own education.

"But it wasn't just his example. He would take me to the USC campus and show me where his classrooms were, letting me know the possibilities of opening up my view to higher education. We would do lunch and talk about how my own schooling was going and any challenges I was going through. He was just very supportive and there for me."

The dean's list 4.0 student plans on transferring to Cal State L.A., with the long-term goal of earning a Ph.D. in psychology.

"All this would not be happening except for Ascending Lights," Portillo pointed out. "On a scale from 1 to 100, it's a 101 program."

Full scholarships
Dissatisfied with his job as VP of sales at a paint company and wanting to do something more meaningful, then-47-year-old Gary Krauss founded the Ascending Lights Leadership Network in 1993 with the idea of offering college scholarships to struggling urban students. Msgr. David O'Connell, now pastor of St. Michael Church in Los Angeles, convinced him to focus on getting inner-city kids through community colleges, where they could learn practical job skills and also prepare to go on to four-year colleges and universities.

Next Krauss decided, again with the priest's input, that the scholarships had to cover more than just tuition and books. "Dave said if you're going to do this, you've got to be sure that all the obstacles are removed," he recalled. "If you've got somebody who can't afford a bus pass or needs to see a doctor, they can't succeed. So it has to be comprehensive, it has to be holistic, including a lot of one-on-one mentoring."

The full scholarship also covers transportation, meals at school, medical bills and even professional counseling if needed. It costs Ascending Lights about $22,500 to help a student complete his or her associate degree at a community college over two to four years. Half of that goes to pay for hourly mentoring fees. The entire program is funded by private donations from individuals and foundations.

Krauss stresses that mentoring is even more important than the financial benefits Ascending Lights recipients get.

Every week a student meets with an academic mentor who reviews assignments, tests and papers. The academic mentor also links the student with tutoring, counseling and other resources. In addition, monthly meetings with a spiritual mentor, often provided by the student's own church, examine how God is currently acting in that person's life.

Four times a year, students and mentors gather on a Saturday for Christian leadership training. Recent topics have included mentoring other students, different forms of prayer and how to manage your time.

"The mentoring is crucial because college for inner-city kids is a bewildering thing," Krauss said. "They need guidance throughout. They need to make good choices about their course selection, about what their career path is going to be. They need to have healthy input about issues that surround them and their family. Because there's just a million kinds of counseling issues that can sabotage somebody's success in college.

"And then there's the accountability part," he added. "We want to be sure that our students are giving their best; and if there are difficulties, we want to know. I tell the mentor, 'You're like the doctor who's doing a checkup. Your job is to be sure that they don't have anything going on that can ruin their chance for a college education and career.'"

Forty young men and women from mostly inner-city Catholic and other religious-sponsored schools in the program have successfully graduated from local community colleges, with 42 currently enrolled in Ascending Lights. Pastors at churches recommend candidates. Some 60 to 65 percent of participants earn college degrees.

"Completion is certainly one measure of success," Krauss observed. "And then we look at the whole person who is being turned out. You know, is this person someone who is being looked up to and is doing some kind of service in their church or community once they've completed their education to motivate others and lead others to us? And that's happening.

"We have second- and third-generations at some churches now. And that's the whole idea. The young people don't have to pay anything to us except their time and talent while they're in our program and when they're finished. Because the point is for them to lead and motivate others through their churches to success, education and good life skills."

'Climbing up the hill'
Father Tracy O'Sullivan is in his 15th year as pastor of St. Raphael's Church in South Los Angeles. During that period, the Carmelite friar has recommended about a dozen students for the Ascending Lights program - kids that he's seen signs of need and leadership, plus active involvement in the inner-city parish.

"I think that this formula Ascending Lights has is right on target," he said. "It's a very holistic approach. And these kids need every part of the mentoring for academics, for their own personal life and then for their spiritual life. They need all the encouragement because they're really climbing up the hill.

"Even with all the help they get, not all of them make it in the program," he acknowledged. "They're constantly being monitored and sometimes put on probation. So it's not a free ride, and that's why the program is so effective. It hangs in with kids. It takes them where they're at and moves them to the next step."

Another part Father O'Sullivan really likes is the Christian leadership training. Two Ascending Lights graduates are currently heavily involved in ministry at his church. One runs the Confirmation program; the other, a public school teacher, is an active member of both the parish council and finance committee.

"So it very much helps our parish to have people like them come back to St. Raphael's with their leadership skills," said the pastor.

For almost three years, Simona Ramirez was a card-carrying Ascending Lights member, until May 2008 when she graduated from East Los Angeles College. Last month she entered Cal State L.A. as a political science major with hopes of going to law school and one day practicing immigration or labor law.

Right now the 20-year-old also volunteers at the House of Ruth, a shelter for abused women and children. At her parish, Dolores Mission in Boyle Heights, she is a senior catechist.

Ramirez says she benefited from the academic and spiritual mentoring, tutoring in political science as well as the leadership training. "We talked about setting boundaries for ourselves and goal planning, time planning and when to do our homework, and how to get from junior college to the university," she explained.

"But first my mentor took me on a tour of the school and showed me where the school counselors' offices were to advise me. Before I became a part of Ascending Lights, I used to think if I asked a question it was going to be a dumb question," she said with a chuckle. "But Ascending Lights' thing is it's better to ask a stupid question then make a dumb mistake."

After a moment, the future lawyer added, "They encouraged you to get involved in your community and to set an example for other kids who might be dropping out of high school. So we spoke to youth groups about teenage pregnancy, about drugs and all that stuff. And at the leadership training we had a lot of time to talk about God and academics. It was a chance for us to grow."

To learn more about Ascending Lights Leadership Network, visit http://www.ascendinglights.org or call (877) 445-4244.