Michael* grew up knowing how to survive. His mother raised him and his younger brother largely on her own, moving frequently across San Jose as she searched for stable housing. Money was tight, opportunities felt distant, and a father figure was never part of the picture. What his neighborhood offered instead — belonging, protection, a sense of power — pulled him toward a street lifestyle of crime and violence that would define much of his adolescence.

“I wanted to be something in life because I never felt like I was anything,” recalls Michael, who just turned 18.

He started drifting from school around fifth grade, losing interest in classrooms that never felt made for him. By his teens, the streets had filled that void — offering the love, loyalty, and identity missing at home. The cost was steep: watching his mother cry, learning to look over his shoulder, facing dangers no teenager should face.

Then, in February, someone from Michael’s circle — a 16-year-old he knew from the streets — was killed by gang violence. It wasn’t abstract. It was someone his age, from his world, and his death made the stakes undeniable. The life Michael had chosen could claim him, too.

“I don’t want nobody to take care of my family but me,” he says. “I want to do better.”

A Life-Changing Decision

His girlfriend’s steadiness, his mother’s sacrifice, and the weight of his friend’s death converged into one irreversible decision: he was getting out. But leaving a gang is not as simple as walking away. To exit without living in fear, Michael made the courageous choice to be formally jumped out — walking into a confrontation with multiple gang members who beat him severely, a brutal ritual that released him from their world on their terms. He absorbed that violence deliberately so he would never look over his shoulder again. It was one of the hardest things he has ever done. It was also one of the bravest.

Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County was there with Michael through all of it. Michael had first heard about the Youth Empowered for Success (YES) program through a friend and decided one afternoon to see what it was about. What he found was a team who would become among the most important people in his life. Case managers Marquez, Mark, and Jeanine didn’t just connect him to services — they invested in him as a person, showing up consistently, holding him accountable with compassion, and refusing to let him settle for a smaller vision of his future. A team from the City of San Jose team added meaningful support through their partnership with YES.

But it was the daily presence of his Catholic Charities team that anchored him.

“They showed me different perspectives on life,” Michael says. “They taught me respect, manners, to keep my head up. Almost everyone at the center helped me.”

Jeanine helped him apply for a position at a major craft retailer and walked alongside him. He earned a permanent role, saved money deliberately, and built financial habits that once seemed impossible.

I really do feel like I have a future ahead of me. I didn’t think that before.

Catholic Charities also made sure Michael could see his future with his own eyes — taking him on college tours to Santa Clara University and UC Santa Cruz, campuses he had never imagined himself belonging to. Multi-day camping and whitewater rafting trips pushed him beyond everything familiar. Those river experiences planted something lasting. This summer, he is enrolled in a nine-day whitewater river guide training program that will certify him to lead youth groups safely on the water. The same organization that first brought him to the river is now trusting him to guide others there.

Through YES, Michael enrolled in Opportunity Youth Academy, where he began reclaiming the academic ground he had lost.

“I really do feel like I have a future ahead of me,” he says. “I didn’t think that before.”

The Power of Faith

Woven through it all has been a deepening of faith. Preparing for his Catholic Confirmation, Michael has found an identity no street could offer and no violence can take. The faith his mother always carried has become his own.

When asked what he would tell his younger self, he doesn’t hesitate: “Don’t do it. It’s not worth the trouble. Stay in school, stay positive, and do better.”

His goals are clear: a high school diploma, trade school, a driver’s license, a life built on his own terms. He wants to buy his mother a house someday. He has already started becoming the person who will.

Written by By Mark A Guardado Jr., B.E.S.T. (Bringing Everyone’s Strengths Together) Program Case Manager, Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County.

*Michael is a pseudonym. His name has been changed to protect his safety.