Luis Ruan grew up in a National City neighborhood where gangs, violence and police activity were prevalent.
“When I grew up it was kind of rough,” Ruan said about 16th street and Coolidge Avenue, the neighborhood he grew up on. “For me growing up there was a lot of police supervision in my neighborhood, easy access to drugs and alcohol.”
Ruan, 52, a former counselor with the Orange County Probation Department, now resides in Los Angeles where he dedicates his time helping improve the lives of at-risk youth.
Part of his efforts include a community reading of his book, “Journey to the Mountain Within” on Sept. 13 at 2 p.m. at National City’s A Reason to Survive Arts Center.
The book details his work helping troubled youth in Santa Ana, East Los Angeles, Boyle Heights and native reservations across the United States and Canada.
“It’s my journey working with the community and working with high risk youth,” he said. “What I learned and what they taught me and what the experiences taught me.”
Prior to the reading, Ruan will host a workshop about his book. The workshop will focus on youth empowerment through the arts and culture.
“Journey to the Mountain Within” spurred from his observations and experiences as a counselor in the Orange County
Probation Department, which he said made him realize that the juvenile system was broken.
Instead of a system to rehabilitate and give youth the opportunity to succeed, he said the system was created to put high-risk youth back in the system.
“Incarceration is not the answer, there’s other alternatives, other options in working with our young people,” he said.
One of those alternatives was a program that Ruan started that took young men who were in and out of the jail system back packing.
He said more programs that focus on individuals being a better person was a better subsitute than sending them bak to the juvenile system
The program’s first outing was a challenge as these at risk youth went on an 82-mile Sierra trek, including reaching the base of Mt. Whitney.
The first group of youth had only received a few months of training for their 82-mile journey.
Ruan said his program was successful in changing the lives of at-risk youth because it took them outside their environment to focus on their culture and occupy their minds.
He said the program forces young people to look at their inner selves and decide who they want to become.
“I found out that was effective,” he said about the program.
He named the program Beyond Limits. Ruan ran the program for eight years before passing it on to other youth leaders.
Growing up, Ruan was fortunate enough not to get involved with the gang activities that were active in his neighborhood but witnessed first hand from family and friends how gangs can destruct a person’s life.
He also said he was beat up and jumped several times as a kid, but still refused to live the gang lifestyle.
Ruan credits martial arts as his saving grace. Martial arts kept his mind busy and it gave him something to focus on instead of the streets, he said.
Ruan said he is happy to return to his roots in hopes of sharing his message to young adults.
“The reason I wanted to do it in National City is because I grew up in National City,” Ruan said.
Ruan said he doesn’t exactly know why he wants to help at risk you, but it is something he enjoys.
“It was something that kind of burned inside me, I was compelled to do it,” he said.
A previous version of this story included an image of former superintendent Jesus Gandara.
The Star-News regrets the error.
