Mentoring program grows

By GRACIE BONDS STAPLES

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Every Tuesday night for three years, Portia Neal took two buses and a train to get to YES!Atlanta’s downtown offices.

She was 15, and her life had come to a crossroads. She was bright but her temper threatened to undo her.

For years, YES!Atlanta had been mentoring youth just like her, encouraging them to stay in school, and avoid pregnancy, drugs and gangs. When a school counselor saw Neal headed for trouble, she suggested the teen seek help from the nonprofit.

“YES!Atlanta changed my life,” said Neal, now a student at Gordon College in Barnesville.

Neal, in fact, is one of thousands of kids the organization has helped say yes to success as its name suggests. Each year, about 70 kids are served in its one-on-one mentoring program. An additional 400 youth go through its development workshops and seminars on violence, anger management, bullying and goal setting.

Now after more than two decades of successfully enhancing the lives of youths on this city’s southside, YES!Atlanta is about to forge north, said Shelby Jackson Rogers, executive director of the nonprofit organization.

Michael Halpern, who helped found YES!Atlanta, said the fact that the organization exists is in itself a small miracle.

He said the organization, which operates on an annual budget of $250,000, has struggled to find funding for its programs since the economic downturn.

What it hasn’t struggled to do all these years is make a difference. That’s why, Rogers said, they want to expand into the northern suburbs. The expansion will be called Project Lift and based at the Bridge to Grace Church in Roswell.

The Rev. David Bonselaar, pastor of the church, heard about Yes!Atlanta about the same time his congregation was trying to develop a relationship with nearby Holcomb Bridge Middle and Centennial High schools.

“I realized that God was calling us to minister to these schools,” he said.

A member at the church had received help through YES!Atlanta, and early this year introduced Bonselaar to Rogers.

“I think the stereotype is that Roswell is an affluent community and students don’t struggle with drugs, crimes and dropping out of school,” Bonselaar said. “That is not the case.”

Project Lift, for middle and high school students, will initially provide mentoring and life and academic skills. Bonselaar said he hopes the program eventually will include a youth team-building component like YES!Atlanta.

“The need is there,” he said. “We just need the financial support to get things moving.”

By the time she was referred to YES!Atlanta, Neal, now 18, said she was ready to make a change.

“I knew that if I didn’t change, I’d end up like the girls I grew up with,” Neal said, “pregnant, on drugs, with more than one baby or worse — no education.”

And so each day after school, she climbed the hill to Memorial Drive, caught either the No. 34 or No. 7 bus to the Inman Park train station; road to Five Points and then finally boarded Bus 49 to YES!Atlanta.

There, Neal said, she was forced to take inventory of her life and to set goals.

“I remember telling her point blank, you have a lot of obstacles to overcome. Are you willing to accept our support and live in the rim of no excuses?” recalled Rogers. “And she said, ‘Yes, ma’am.’ ”

Rogers assigned Neal to mentor Sarah Fixel, a vice president at Sun Trust Bank, who couldn’t have been more different from her newest student.

Fixel came from a two-parent, middle class family. Neal was the product of a poor home run by a single mother of four.

At first, Fixel said, “I was a little nervous. I wasn’t sure I had much to offer.”

After several years of interviewing potential kids for the program, however, Fixel discovered she enjoyed the work and asked to become a tutor. That’s when she was paired with Neal. They didn’t have much to say to each other that first night. They hit the books, talking through science, Shakespeare and Spanish.

“We’ve come a long way since then,” Fixel said, laughing.

Neal started to see her grades improve. She celebrated the gains with Fixel. She opened up about her friends and shared details about her home life.

Fixel told her about her boyfriend. Neal told her about her part-time job and each promotion.

Tutoring sessions soon turned into nights out having dinner or just plain fun. They always found time to get together for Christmas and exchange presents.

Neal worked her way onto Tech High School’s honor roll. She persuaded five other teens to seek help at YES!Atlanta.

When it came time to buy a prom dress, Neal consulted Fixel. When Fixel married, Portia was there, and when Portia graduated from high school this summer with a 3.6 grade-point average, her friend Fixel was there to celebrate.

Rogers said Neal “learned what it meant to operate above your circumstances and live in the realm of no excuses.”

“It was her commitment that made the difference,” Rogers said.

Neal, though, credits Rogers, Fixel and others at YES!Atlanta for the change.

“They’re dedicated to the max,” she said. “If they could make two YES!Atlantas, Atlanta would be a good old place.”