[roadtripper #2] This is the-the street that I grew up in, the block that I grew up in.

This neighborhood did teach me a lot of things.

[roadtripper #3] Right now we're at my old house.

There's good and bad memories in this home.

It's like...everything.

[roadtripper #1] The situation I was born into was pretty rough.

Comin' out your door everyday, you don't know what you gonna be faced with.

[roadtripper #3] I stopped going to school to take care of my little sister, so they kicked me out.

What am I gonna do?

[roadtripper #1] The route that I was going, you had to get respect, you know, so you had to do a few things but that-that was how yous gonna survive.

[roadtripper #2] Where I grew up as the years went by things started happenin'.

Drugs got into it.

A lot of violence got into it.

And so it's just like, I'm kinda stuck.

At the time, I never thought I was gonna be homeless.

♪ [roadtripper #2] The plan is to go on this road trip that I'm really excited about.

[roadtripper #1] The plan this summer is to go on this trip with Roadtrip Nation.

To experience so many things I've never experienced.

To get out of New York.

[roadtripper #3] I wanna be able to get out of here.

Like I'm gonna be able to breathe fresh air.

[Wordsmith ft. BJR singing "Gems of Wisdom"] ♪I hope you're ready, hope you're ready♪ ♪I'ma tell it to em, I'ma tell em that♪ ♪A wise man told me the gems of wisdom♪ ♪come only once in a lifetime♪ ♪I see the world through a telescope♪ ♪I tell of hope♪ ♪and let me quote faith let me be the pope♪ ♪stress, let me stop the stroke.♪ ♪The education, the desperation of learnin'♪ ♪when kids become the vermin, the future is so uncertain.

♪♪ [roadtripper #2] Man, look at that, Roadtrip Nation dot com - [roadtripper #1] Paparrazi, baby [roadtripper #3] Do we not look at the cameras?

[roadtripper #2] Do we wave?

[roadtripper #1] See what this nice little RV lookin' like 'cause we gonna have to be in it for a whole month.

[roadtripper #2] And this is our home Oh my gosh this is so cool!

Oh wow, they wrote in it!

[roadtripper #1] This is straight hippie.

[roadtripper #2] "Our time is limited but our love is not."

Oh shoot.

[roadtripper #3] I like that saying "We may fear tomorrow and we may regret yesterday but we must live today."

The RV is actually pretty tight.

It's nice.

I love it.

[roadtripper #3] So I'm calling this one right here already.

[roadtripper #1] I got this.

[roadtripper #2] Oh yeah, you know, I ain't trippin'.

[roadtripper #1] I am the one with the jet lag so I kinda gotta sleep comfortably.

[roadtripper #2] You gotta be comfortable?

Shoot.

I'll fall asleep just like this.

[roadtripper #1] Nah, there's a bed that goes above that though.

[roadtripper #2] The way I felt with Summer, man, I felt pretty comfortable with her because uh, I know her background so like where she come from and so it's better that way to like, to understand.

(Summer) I get all these emotions 'cause I remember as a kid just running these streets.

My mom, she's a druggie.

She gave birth to me, she didn't even know that she was pregnant with me, actually, until they took her to the hospital.

And I came out pretty heavily drugged, like I was born at 5 months.

They were always bullying me, I was always the one getting picked on.

Because I was a crack child.

Everythin' that everybody told me, that I wasn't worth it and that I shoulda just died and all that stuff, it really messed with my head.

I have really bad depression, I have flashbacks, I just have, just everything hits me at one point and I'm just like I don't know if I can do it.

In this life, everythin' is an obstacle.

But it's mainly just my self-esteem.

I know how it feels to be unwanted.

I just can't wait for Roadtrip.

I just can't wait for it.

Like I have a flame, but that flame is gonna get fed more and more with this road trip, so it's just gonna make me stronger.

I feel like I'm gonna be a different person when I come back.

[roadtripper #1] Oh shoot, that's the ocean!

Dang!

Hey, y'all wanna get on top of the RV?

[roadtripper #2] Our parents, they'd tell us like to watch, watch your back, only go down the corner and we'd be like, okay.

We actually thought it was like dangerous like to go around the whole block.

And I remember I did it once, and I thought I got away with it.

I was like, yes!

And I see my auntie with a belt and I'm like, oh my god.

It'll be like 2 o'clock in the morning and all a sudden I'll wake up with like, just gunshots that you will like literally could hear like in front of your house and it's just like...wooo.

There's a lot of innocent lives that were just being taken away, back to back to back, 'cause of the gangs and everything.

I guess living here you have to get used to it but I really hope for none of the kids to actually just lose their life over something stupid or anything.

I've seen it too many times.

(Summer) This is scary!

[Ryan] Ah you did it!

Look at you!

[roadtripper #1] Howdy, neighbors!

It's like my long-lost siblin's.

When I seen them, and I seen their smile on their faces, I could definitely tell we were gonna have a real good roadtrip.

[Ryan] Yeah Michael, he's actually, he's pretty cool.

I could see myself actually learning from him a lot, which is pretty cool.

[Michael] Kay I was born and raised in the Bronx for 18 years.

So I was introduced to a lot of things at a very young age, which corrupted my mind.

A lot of homeless, drug addicts, drug dealers, prostitutes, which led me into, you know, got into a lot of fights.

A lot.

A lot, lot, lot, a lot.

Like I mean, there was a fight everyday.

Ended up doin' two years in juvenile detention and joined a gang.

And that led me to bein' stabbed twice in my back.

And, um, at that moment I was like you know I have-I had, need to get the hell out of the Bronx.

For once, I was like how do I find myself?

Never had this kinda opportunity.

This is gonna be a very important trip to me 'cause it's gonna determine what path I take.

This will determine my future.

So some people call us "at-risk youth," uh, "disconnected youth" "opportunity youth" I don't know 'bout all that.

I just feel like we've been dealt a very tough hand, and that's that.

And we're just looking to move forward, honestly.

So we've been given this opportunity to go across country.

We're gonna interview all kinds of people.

We're lookin' to find out how they made it through the struggles to success.

So we're in Los Angeles, California.

[Ryan] LA, baby!

[Michael] Homeboy Industries.

We're gettin ready to interview Father Greg Boyle.

Who uh made it possible for gang members to have a job.

It's the first interview.

It's where the history begins.

Pretty excited about it.

[Summer] I'm feelin' a little nervous.

[Ryan] I'm feelin' pretty excited about it- [Summer] No I'm nervous, I'm nervous.

[Father Greg] Roadtrip Nation.

[Ryan] Yeah.

[Michael] Mike.

[Father Greg] Hi, Mike.

[Ryan] Ryan.

[Father Greg] Hi.

[Summer] Summer.

[Father Greg] Pleasure.

Is this on?

(male #1) Yeah.

[Father Greg] Okay.

Okay, fire away.

[Michael] Let's uh, talk about where you came from, your background and how did you get to where you are today.

[Father Greg] I'm a Jesuit priest, and I was born and raised here in LA.

And I won sort of the lottery, you know, the zip code lottery and grew up in a part of the city where there were no gangs.

And then I was, long story short, assigned to be pastor of the poorest parish in the city.

So eight gangs at war with each other in my parish boundary.

In the old days, when I would ride my bike in the projects and, you know, to kinda put out fires, and put that Uze down, are you sure you wanna shoot that guy?

[Michael] Yeah.

[Summer] Did you ever feel threatened doing that though?

[Father Greg] No.

I mean, I got caught in shoot outs but I never, I never took it personally.

So I'd be talking with homies, you know, straddling my bike, and all the sudden bop-bop-bop-bop-bop [Summer] That just gave me chills.

[Father Greg] So I would go to them, I'd say, you know, what would help?

And then they said, if only we had jobs, And I said, we'll call it Homeboy Bakery and we'll put rival gang members in hair nets and have 'em bake bread.

And now, this is the largest gang intervention re-entry program in the world.

[David] Me personally, I followed the wrong path got into a gang and just went to prison.

I did nine years, four months in prison.

So my promise to myself was I'm never gonna go back to the system again.

I got two strikes, I got a messed up record, I got tattoos, visible tattoos, and nine years in prison, it kinda messed me up.

I had that antisocial behavior.

Just like, don't talk to me, don't look at me.

I don't know you, I don't wanna know you.

Um, somebody stepped on my shoes and almost got sent back to prison just for trying to beat him up.

So here, they had therapy.

So I like, I gotta sign up for that.

With the anger management classes that they offer here I was able to suppress it.

Now it's like I can laugh, joke around and whatnot.

I kinda like it you know, because you see other people like myself, tattooed, so it's like, I could feel comfortable here.

[Father Greg] And now, you know, we have ten social enterprises.

So 15,000 folks walk through those doors every year, trying to get some hope.

[David] So they have Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous here.

I've been clean for years.

If people don't have GED's, we can offer them GED programs right here to get their high school diploma.

Our main one that I love here is a tattoo removal.

All our tattoo removal, all our gang tattoo's are free.

(Michael) What was the most heartfelt situation you've encountered?

Like someone, like a rival, like walking in or somethin' and they just shake hands and - [David] Yeah, actually you see a lot of that here.

I got a couple of my rival enemies here and it's just like, years back, I would've shot this guy or stabbed him or something and now I'm like, give him hugs like "how you doing, man?

How's everything going and all that?"

Like - [Michael] Yo, that's, that's amazing... [David] It's not easy, you know what I mean?

[Michael] It's not.

[David] The main thing I see here is courage.

Like honestly I think we have to be a courageous person to come to this program ëcause think about it.

You're leaving the gang life behind to ask for that helping hand to change that life, to get that start going.

[Father Greg] I got a snapshot of your lives, but my sense is that there's light at the end of that tunnel.

And what you wanna get people to a place where they can stand in awe at what the three of you have had to carry, rather than stand in judgment at how you've carried it.

I feel real privileged meeting you guys.

[Michael] Likewise, man.

♪ (Summer) We're here in Los Angeles, about to interview Jill Weiss.

She does yoga for juvenile detention facilities.

(Jill) Thank you guys for such a great class; give yourselves a hand.

(Jill) My mom and dad divorced when I was three, and my mom remarried pretty quick to a stepdad that was very violent, very abusive, and I would just hear, you know, him drag my mom down, tear off walls and doors... and it was always a frightening place.

[Michael] It's weird, ëcause I, I've not shared this with anybody, but I was abused, and my father, when he did come around, he would beat, beat me down.

And um, started realizing that I have that domestic violence in my blood, like - [Jill] It's a lot of trauma [Michael] Yeah.

[Jill] And for me, I teach trauma-informed yoga.

♪ [Jill] My mom would drop me off at my friend's house and say, you know, you need to find someone else to feed you, I can't afford to raise you.

And she wouldn't pick me up for days.

I stopped caring about everything, and uh didn't care if I existed.

I'd gotten arrested as a kid, at a party.

My mom picked me up and let me go back to the party, so there were no repercussions, obviously.

The second time I was arrested, for, I guess, drinking in public, drunk in public.

And I started putting crystal meth in my lemonade in the mornings on the way to work.

[Michael] I've never heard of crystal meth in someone's drink.

[Jill] I got pretty sneaky.

That was when things would've just kept going down, really bad fast.

I hated myself and people.

I said I was "dead girl walking."

And that's what yoga helped me heal.

(Jill, in class) Big inhale, good.

(Jill) And I started to love that feeling of "my mind's calm!"

[Jill, in class] Stomach, stomach in, beautiful.

You got it.

(Jill) My husband works for the county, and he visits prison camps and juvenile halls for his work.

And he would come home and just shudder about the conditions that the kids were in.

And my response was, you know, can I teach yoga in there?

The trauma, that stay in our body, start to kinda move around in different places; old injuries pop up, old wounds.

And we get to heal them with yoga.

It's an incredible intervention.

And when I first started taking yoga I just was in darkness.

It was a long road of recovery.

[Jill, in class] Right, left, several times.

(Summer) After going through all of that, what advice can you give, like now?

[Jill] You personally?

[Summer] Yeah!

I'm, I'm that type of person that, since I was little, in elementary school, I hated myself, a lot.

I was always rejected and just shown that I was not supposed to be here so it was more of like, why am I even still here?

[Jill] For me, personally, what really changed was the-the phrase "Go where the love is."

You know, and let go.

[Michael] What if you don't know what is, what love feels like?

[Jill] Well, with the violence, I thought love was domestic violence and being hit and I had to unravel it and really start to love myself or there's nothing.

And that, that's still a battle.

But I-I-I see all of you on this journey and you're all doing it and you're fighting.

You're fighting t-t-to believe "I'm doing it."

♪ [Summer] I didn't know that loving yourself was a big key to everything.

I just realized that's like a big key to get to anything you want.

I wanna be able to look at myself in the mirror and accept myself for who I am, and accept myself that I'm worth loving.

My fear is that I'm so caught up and lost in my head.

I just, my heart hurts and it's just more of like I don't know how to fill that emptiness.

♪ [Ryan] Questions that burn within me on this road trip is, "Am I ever going to find my success, what I love doing, and actually makin' a livin' for it?"

Or am I like too blind to ever see what makes me happy?

[Michael] I think the first week was just a mental breakdown.

I've been broken down.

So now, I'm tryna figure out what I need to do.

[Summer] I have to give myself time.

♪ [Michael] So today's July 4th!

[Ryan] Right now we're in Utah!

To be exact, we're at Bryce Canyon.

(Summer) I've never, never, ever, ever, ever, ever, would've pictured myself at a national park on 4th of July.

I don't even think I've ever been to a national park!

[Michael] Oh my god.

[Ryan] Oh-!

[Summer] Dude!

Look it!

♪ [Michael] The scenery's so beautiful.

They don't have like, things like this in New York.

Yo, Ryan!

[Ryan] Yeah.

[Michael] Whatta you doing?

[Ryan] Taking a picture.

[Michael] See, things like that creep me out.

[Ryan] This is so amazing.

[Michael] Yo you got any last wishes?

[Ryan] What?

Dang-!

Looking around, it was just like wow, this in on the earth, what?!

Man, where I came from...

I came from my grandma's house where cockroaches falling off the ceiling, or eating like mayonnaise sandwiches.

This is like somethin' so surreal.

I had like a little, to myself moment, and I just looked down, and I just felt like I just wanted to let go of so much.

I was just, you know, letting go of the past.

I think the road is too big to be stressed, really, over little things.

There's so much out on the road.

(Ryan) I'm pretty sure I don't got you, we'll both fall together but- (Michael) No, no!

Aight, you guys are scaring me, man.

[Ryan] Michael, stopping stressing man, we good!

[Michael] Yo Ryan, yo can you move back for me please?

Just, thank you.

(Summer) I knew nature was beautiful, but damn!

(Michael) We're about to go see some fireworks.

Fireworks baby!

[Ryan] Woohoo!

[Michael] The fireworks are going... oh right there!

[Ryan] Oh, two of them hit!

[Michael] It's right there!

Ah-!

[Summer] Woo!

[Michael] Everyone, let's go!

Let's go!

[Michael, singing] It's such a beautiful place!

Whoa whoa whoa whoa, I'm not done!

Y'all supposed to be my background singers.

Oh, fireworks!

Fireworks in Utah!

[Michael and Ryan, singing] Oh-, fireworks!

[Ryan] Oh, please don't do that!

I love you guys, you guys are beautiful.

(Michael) It's like, when you're so used to a certain environment, you just adapt to it.

And I think this road trip is revealing everything to me, you know what I'm saying?

I'm not, I'm not bein' attacked, I'm not bein' threatened, I'm not, you know, bein' mistreated.

No one's yelling at me, you know what I'm saying?

No one, heh, no one reminds me of anybody from my hood.

You know what I'm saying, like?

I guess I don't have to be that person no more.

I could be someone.

See this, right?

I already feel like I'm developin' into a whole ënother human being, with the experience of traveling.

♪ (Michael) Aw, hold up!

(Summer) What!

Oh, he stands in the middle!

[RV horn] (Michael) And off they go, haha!

That is so amazing to me.

♪ (Summer) We all did river rafting.

I have never done river rafting, or anything like that before.

I feel like my heart's gonna pump outta my chest!

I was scared getting on that boat because water's unpredictable.

I've heard that with the rapids, it can suck you in and just pop you out wherever.

That's terrifying!

[Everyone] Woo!

Hoo!

[Ryan] Yea-!

(leader #2) Rafting is our culture.

There are philosophies that say that you can't do a lot of internal work to heal, and to process all this stuff that we've gone through, in like, a room with four walls.

So we use the lens of the outdoors and the lens of nature to teach leadership skills and to teach like, kind of, self-empowerment.

It works right?

You guys experienced a little bit of it today.

(Summer) They had like these smaller little boats called duckies, and going on a solo by myself was terrifying!

At first, I didn't want to do it.

Ryan went first, and he made it, I think, to the middle... and the wave just tossed him, like turned him.

[Michael] He.

Wiped.

Out-!

(Summer) And then next was Michael and it tipped him, really fast.

(male #2) Hold on!

Feet together, feet together!

(Michael) It's amazing because, that's like my life, you know what I'm saying?

I was born into a rapid, and I'm trying to find my way through and I keep getting, like, suffocated underneath the water.

It's like something is holding you down, like one of your friends or something.

(Jes) Exactly, yup.

All those metaphors, right?

Like internally, we're a lot like that river.

We have those meandering turns and sometimes some rapids.

[Summer] I remember the man telling me keep your balance.

If you see yourself going one way, float the other way.

♪ And I was scared 'cause I thought I was gonna flip.

I was going in backwards at one point.

[female #1] Good job Summer!

[Summer] And somehow I managed to end up on the other side, still in my boat.

[Michael] She actually made it through with no problem.

[Jes] Awesome!

(Summer) I was scared 'cause like I don't have confidence in doing something.

I was like, I'm not-I'm not gonna do it, I was like chickening out like big time.

So being on that boat made me realize that you know, I'm gonna take my turns.

That it's gonna be to that point where I'm almost falling, but if I just keep, how did he say it, my balance, I'll be able to get through anything.

[Jes] Yep.

[Summer] That's helped me.

It's, believe it or not like it's... uh I'm getting emotional again!

[Jes] Then we say okay, we did that on the river, what rapids are coming up for you at school?

What are some rapids that are on your way in your family life?

What are some rapids that are coming - let's scout these, let's make a plan for how you're gonna get through that safely and how you're gonna navigate that well.

[Michael] What happened with this opportunity was, alright, it's just a roadtrip, just gettin' some BS advice.

That's what I was thinkin' goin' into it.

And then I'm like woah, this is somethin' bigger than I thought it was and let's see what I could get out of it.

♪ (female #1) Alright good afternoon, good afternoon!

We're so excited to have so many veterans of Mission Continues.

We're gonna have a lot of work to do today!

[Michael] We're here uh doin' a service project with The Mission Continues.

Uh a group of returning veterans.

(female #1) You are going to be creating, revitalizing, refurbishing an incredible obstacle course and park area that is used by over 2500 youth in the city of Chicago, just in the summer alone.

(Michael) After the service project, we'll be interviewin' Pernell Bush.

(Ryan) The biggest man out there, who is huge but then like happy and jolly though.

[Michael] I guess we could start off with somethin' like, you know, your upbringin'.

(Pernell) So my father had me out of wedlock, and then my mother went to prison so I am the offspring of a egg of a felon and a sperm of a adulterer.

So I say from conception, my life was made to be hell.

♪ My early years was very tough.

We had no lights or water for like two years.

you know, honestly, we lived in a house with no lights or water.

I'ma fast forward to high school, man.

I got caught with drug possession, uh stolen cars.

I went to jail my third time my senior year.

We say it's called ridin' in circles.

And why we say is ridin' in circles is 'cause you gonna keep repeatin' yourself.

I may have a good little streak where I'm gettin money, feelin good, but then I'm gonna get cased up again.

I'ma have to spend all my money to get out and just be right out in the same little repetitive circle.

Is that where I wanna end up?

Nah.

Yeah I did a lot of things to get in trouble, I was doin' a lot of things that wasn't right.

But once I figured out what was goin' wrong or what I was doin' incorrectly, I had to learn to persevere through that.

I didn't let that become my-my final identity.

So I drove to our uh, nearest recruitin' station and I signed the papers.

I still had a lot of growin' up to do, a lot of maturin', I'm not gonna tell you, it didn't snap like this, it didn't happen.

I will not lie to you.

It took-it took years talkin' back, learnin' how to - just learnin how to set your mouth.

I used to say I had an anger problem, like control yo'self, I had to learn how to control myself.

Two tours Iraq, Haiti after the earthquake doing humanitarian work, and now I found this organization called The Mission Continues, which has been an awesome organization from the date I found out about it.

You know, it gave me a purpose again, it gave me the opportunity to cre-recreate a mission.

Started creatin' programs to help empower my community.

I went back to school.

I told the counselor, like, "listen, I'm finna graduate with my AA in one year."

She like, "that's impossible."

I went through there, and I got all A's and B's.

I graduated my BSW, and also I'm in grad school now.

And so I'm goin' for my master's.

It's somethin' I never thought I'd be doin'.

Ever!

[Summer] It's incredible how you were able to do that knowing you've had anger issues and you're transitioning into helping the community and building something more for others.

[Pernell] You know, I stopped blaming this indvidual, that-this circumstance, the way I grew up.

That's what you need to be doin' everyday.

Are you gonna let just life's situations stop you from reachin' the goals that you want?

You gotta persevere through that, continue to push.

[Ryan] Ayyy!

[Summer] Disinfecting my mind.

That's mainly what I'm doing.

I'm disinfecting my mind.

[Pernell] One, two, three... [All] OOH-RAH.

[Ryan] Yayyyy!

[Summer] I'm not gonna be a whole new person 'cause I know it's impossible, but I wanna be able to use the aspects that I've been getting so then I can rebuild myself into someone I wanna be.

♪ (leader #3) My mom died of breast cancer when I was one, and then my father passed when I was like four or five from a heart attack.

My freshman year of high school, me and my sister started living by ourselves.

We lied, essentially to everybody and we said that we were living with an adult and we weren't.

I didn't really admit to people openly that I didn't have parents, and so poetry was a way that really helped me, you know, be able to control that story and talk about it and be open with it.

The first time I watched someone do spoken word, I was like of my god that is crazy, you know, like never in my life had I dreamed about being able to say like, this is who I am, and that's why I continue to teach it and why I believe in it and why I wanna make my life around it.

[Michael] When you started doin' poetry, what does that feel like?

When you start speakin up and you-you develop confidence?

[Fatima] So the first time I went on a stage, I couldn't stand.

I had to sit, 'cause like my knees were shaking and I was really scared.

Why would anybody care to hear about how I grew up, or my pain, or my thing, or what happened to me?

You know, like why is that important to anyone else?

Ignore that voice.

'Cause that voice is not necessarily your voice, it's the voice of everyone else around you who's made you feel that way.

♪ There's enough people trying to erase you to not erase yourself or your own voice.

There's a poem by Lucille Clifton called 'Won't You Come Celebrate With Me.'

This is a poem that has helped me a lot.

"Won't you celebrate with me what I have shaped into "a kind of life?

"I had no model.

"Born in babylon both nonwhite and woman "what did I see to be except myself?

"I made it up here on this bridge between "starshine and clay, "my one hand holding tight my other hand; "come celebrate with me that everyday "something has tried to kill me and has failed."

[Summer] The certain interviews hit certain spots.

It's a big eye-opener.

[Ryan] I feel like I'm learnin' somethin' each day.

And not just a little bit, I've learned a lot.

But, man, where am I going in life, like, like with all the things that I have in my head like all the negativity and stuff that's like affecting me and stuff.

Livin' in Oakland, a lot of violence seen in the world, a lot of gangs, and just things, like I was startin to shut down myself and just like kinda seclude myself.

It's like so much weight.

Does this ever end?

My dad, to me, when we were young, he was a cool person, like I seen the father in him.

That's my dad right there, oh that's a good picture.

Look.

And then uh, I don't know.

He met the wrong people and that's when things actually got really outta hand.

He started turnin' into an alcoholic, really abusive.

He just kept doin' what he kept doin, the family got separated and all that.

I didn't have nowhere to stay, so I just, I went to the hills and slept in my car and just-just sittin here like wow what I'm gonna do.

Oh my goodness.

Crazy.

It's a feelin' that nobody should really have as a young person really.

Um, well, Chris I'm Ryan.

I come from Oakland, California and uh - [Chris] Oakland, California?!

Now that's my old neighborhood, now you know that, right?

[Ryan] No-!

[Chris] You know they're my people over there in Oaklanddd!

[Ryan] Oh goodness gracious!

[Chris] Yeah!

Now you know Oakland well?

[Ryan] Yeah.

[Chris] You know the MacArthur Bar Station?

[Ryan] Yeah I stayed down the block from there.

[Chris] Yeah I stayed down there too.

[Ryan] Oh no!

[Chris] Ha ha!

Remember when you see the movie again, and you see the scene of the subway, that was the MacArthur Bar Station.

[Ryan] Dang, oh!

♪ [Ryan] I guess I'm currently still dealin' with homeless situations; been jumpin' from house to house and uh, my dad turned into an alcoholic and became abusive.

I got kicked out and I'm just tryin' to, I guess find positviity and I guess tryin' to stay happy on top of everything.

Comin' from someone that dealt with bein' homeless, what kind of advice can I have?

[Chris] I will never forget being fifteen years old, put out of the house, butt naked, out of the bath tub, Christmas day in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the point of a shotun by my stepfather.

Until I went into the military, the worst violence I ever saw was at home.

I coulda become another alcoholic, wife-beating, child-abusin, illiterate loser, and a lot of people woulda said well look where he's from, he didn't have a choice.

Well I did have a choice.

That pain, how I dealt with it, I made the committment, this will never happen again to another child.

And I'ma start with this one in my arms.

This stops with me.

So those kinds of experiences, positive and negative, they can be useful in the future.

How old are you now?

[Ryan] 20.

(Chris) 20.

This is only the beginning.

But you gotta make some choices.

The point is this.

We all come from someplace that we did not necessarily choose, but we can choose where we're goin' You can lead those coming behind you by example.

You lead by saying you know what, nah, I can't go to that party tonight.

I gotta study.

I gotta practice.

I got a big day tomorrow, I gotta get some rest.

Everybody ain't gonna dig it.

You're not gonna be cool no more.

You don't wanna be cool, you wanna become employed.

Huh?

You wanna be doin' what makes you happy.

You're on your pursuit, right?

So I'm so glad - I am honored you guys came out here to see me, man.

What you guys doin' uh tonight and tomorrow?

Come on over to the house tonight and you wanna just meet some people, and just say hello and be my guests.

(Michael) So he's hostin' a event at his home in Trump Towers and uh, he invited us over.

What is this?!

[Summer] What?!

[Michael] Oh my god!

This is crazy!

[Chris] These guys are on a roadtrip.

Folks talk about sometimes skeletons in their closet.

Man I got my skeletons on display over my fireplace.

[Michael] It's kinda where I wanna - where I wanna be someday actually.

[Chris] The skeletons of alcoholism, domestic violence, child abuse, illiteracy, fear, poverty, all those generational cycles.

Those bones, they sit on the mantelpiece over my fireplace and I look at them everyday and I say no you didn't, and no you won't.

And you can do the same thing.

[Ryan] We're standin' in the Trump Towers.

I don't know how, I don't know what, I don't wanna question anything, I'm just really takin' his all in, just bein' grateful and thankful.

Ahh this is so nice.

Thank you.

Thank you for all the - thank you for all the negativity 'cause it's definitely got me here.

All the forget you's and f you's and whatnot.

You're never gonna make it.

Definitely pushed me to be here.

Definitely gives me a-a perspective just to try harder.

And just keep goin' on.

I'm gonna follow my heart and dream big.

I love it.

I'm grateful.

[Michael] Hey, you ready for this shenanigans?

'Cause I'ma toss you the key.

Don't mess up the assist.

[Ryan] Got this.

[Summer] I'm afraid it's gonna fly out on me and I'm gonna burn alive with the gasoline.

[Michael] Yo you ready to lock that side?

[Ryan] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Michael and Ryan] Oh-!

[Michael] Oh come on, now, we gotta redo that!

I'm gonna aim for the mic.

[Ryan] Alright, I'm ready.

[Michael] Yeah-!

[Ryan] Woohoohoohoo!

[Summer] Ah ah ah see, see?!

Why did it do that?!

See I told you!

We're not gonna catch on fire?

(female #2) No.

[Summer] But it's gasoline.

Are you sure?

I almost died, you guys.

Why only- After Chicago, our next destination was Niagara Falls.

♪ [Summer] ...Niagara east, Niagara West...

When I was given the opportunity, like where in the world would I want to go, and I was like, Niagara Falls, like in a heartbeat.

And at first I didn't think it was possible.

I was like I didn't even know where Niagara Falls is.

I'm never gonna go there, not unitl I have a lot of money and I'm able to travel.

Like I was so stressed out getting there.

Like literally the whole trip was like I'm gonna - we're gonna hit something, and I'm not gonna be able to get there.

Somethin's gonna happen, we're not gonna get there.

Oh my gosh!

Have you ever wanted something so bad and it finally happened and you're just like, is this really happening?

Is this - am I really here right now?

This is amazing!

That place just seemed like a - like a dream, like I was literally waiting to wake up.

Knowing that one of your dreams came true even though you thought it was never gonna happen.

It's just, I'm so used to everything getting cut to the point where I'm almost there.

And finally succeeding, I'm just like I'm here, like it's happening, and then it just- pretty much speechless.

[Michael] I'm never gonna forget this!

Ever!

Everrrr!!

[Summer] It felt like life.

It felt beautiful being able to see that the world has so much more to offer.

This makes me think like I'm missing out on so much, and I just need to stop just hiding and I need to explore and just really take a breath and live life and it's given to me for a reason.

I love it!

I love it!

I never wanna leave!

Being blessed that I can take a breath today, to be able to say that, is life-changing.

Well after Niagara Falls, we went to New York City.

♪ [Michael] That's what it's about mayne, the Big Apple!

The city that doesn't sleep!

Home sweet home, babayy!

Mikey's back!

And betta than eva!

♪ [Lydia] In my foster care files, every single file is I'm lazy, I'm a liar, I'm a manipulator, I'm a con artist, I'm promiscuous.

And when I came back full circle, I didn't have to be that story anymore.

My mom was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and she had a chronic drug problem on top of being a prostitute.

She committed suicide when I was ten and so everybody in my biological family declined taking me in because they said that I was just like my mom and that I was gonna end up like her.

And so I remained in foster care.

So by the time I got to high school, I was like so beaten down.

I went through a major identity crisis.

And so I ran away I remained um homeless for months, in and out of high school um- [Summer] I can't imagine.

Like what-did you ever think you would make it out like of all that, like?

[Lydia] So it wasn't until, my life changed this year.

I'm 34.

My mom died when she was 34, I had planned that I was gonna be dead at 34.

I have been to every therapist.

I have gone through eating disorders, drug use, I mean in the hopital - mental hospital, and I spent my 34th birthday in Peru.

And I had a journal and I wrote every day while I was there about everything I wanted to forgive myself for.

You know, I wanted to forgive myself for laying in bed and letting a man take advantage of me, I wanted to forgive myself for, you know, being sad on mother's day because I didn't have a mother, you know, I - I wanted to forgive myself for all of these things because any moment, I go back, and I pull out anymemory, it devastates me.

And I said those things that devastate me, what the hell are they back there?

What are they doin' but just pullin me back?

Let me take a look at them.

And then I turned the table around and then forgave each of the people that hurt me, and I finally let that go, and I don't think about being sad anymore.

And I learned it really has everything to do with the forgiveness.

[Michael] It's weird that you mention that, sometimes I'm thinkin like, what am I doin?

And then my answer is I'm always blamin' the people who put me through all the things they put me through at such a young age.

[Lydia] Because nobody wants to forgive the person that hurt you because how dare them hurt you, but the only thing is is you're still hurtin.

So you have to do that for yourself.

Listen to that inner voice.

Who you are before anybody judges you or tells you you're nobody.

If you find that person, you'd be so happy.

You're not just a foster kid, you're not just a drug abuser, like it's not even about that.

You're a human being, living your life and you're gonna make a million mistakes, and a million things are gonna happen to you, and its not over.

[Michael] I feel like a baby again - [Ryan] Yeah I was just thinkin - [Michael] -tryna analyze all these little things.

[Ryan] -like a child again.

I'm so much in the moment of tryin like to prove like everybody wrong like I forgot like what I'm truly tryna do this for.

[Michael] I'm gonna give you a hug.

[Lydia] Oh I wanted to give you guys hugs too!

[Summer] Lydia, she's literally an angel that survived hell.

She opened up my eyes because she told me just this year she finally got out, getting over everything she went through as a child, and it just makes me realize that it's probably gonna take me a while to get over all my things, but it's possible and I can do it if I put my mind to it.

[All] AHHHHHHHHH!

[Micahel] That's - we in the Bronx right now.

Look we're in the Bronx.

Ah man, this gives me the goosebumps.

This is where it all started.

This is Castle Hill Ave, right here.

This is-this-this- this whole thing right here is where I was raised in.

This whole spot.

Nice little basketball court over here.

I used to play ball at.

I remember I had like my, my first official love that lived right there.

I remember this, like it was yesterday.

So New York made me who I am today.

I mean, the cockiness, the confidence, the knowledge, this is the place that put me through the struggle.

So rollin' through, it just brought back so much memories.

There's the store right here that my-my aunt used to get drunk at and spend all - all our money and never came back with any food or anything like that.

This uh the projects right here.

This where all the gritty stuff happens.

This area right here is like not to be messed with at all.

I kinda feared this area for a very long time until I got a little older and gained a little repsect on our block.

I was like uh heavily involved in gangs, like gang violence and stuff.

It was this block, Powell, Powell Ave. that really had a lot of violence going on.

That's where my buddy, uh, had got shot, and killed.

That was actually hanging out on this block.

Actually got shot right on this corner, right here.

They got me good; it was the middle of the night, they gathered up on me and my buddies and they took me out.

Yup.

And that's that; that's my neighborhood.

Being back in New York remind me that pretty soon, it'll be time for me to take everything I've learned and put it into action.

We only have one day left, of the road trip.

We're gonna do a few quick interviews, and then we're heading back home and we're gonna be back on our own.

For the most part, this neighborhood look exactly the same.

Ain't nothing changed about this neighborhood at all.

It's unfortunate.

[Elizabeth] It has the highest youth unemployment rate certainly in New York City, but one of the highest youth unemployment rates of any county in the country.

There are a lot of talented, driven 18 year olds, and 16 year olds, and 20 year olds who try to find jobs and don't hear back.

And it's natural that the reaction would be either a desire to leave the place, or to look for other pathways, you know, that that might not be legal.

I think there's just a lot of pent up demand for a chance to share your talent and a chance to make a living.

And I think the South Bronx, you know, unfortunately still a place where a lot of young people aren't able to find that outlet for their creativity, for their passion, and able to make a living.

[Antonio] You know, there's a quote on my office door from Alice Walker that says "The most common way that people give up their power is by assuming they have none."

You are more powerful than you know.

Do not claim powerlessness ëcause we are not powerless.

There was a time when minorities in America were powerless, that is not the situation in 2015.

We do have power.

And what I have seen especially among millennials and people your guys' age is this awakening.

This realization of the power that you do have.

[Arel] I'll give you what I would call a secret to success.

A lot of things are not necessarily secrets; this one I consider to be a secret ëcause it took me a long time to learn this.

You have to find motivation to succeed every possible place you can, even if it's a negative emotion.

When you start thinking about the negativity, about the stupid decisions you made, about the people who made you feel bad, you know?

"You just like your mom.

"Your mom did nothing, you gon' be nothing, that's you."

Turn that into fuel.

And you'll go "I can't wait to prove this person, like I'm ah!"

It is going to mean so much to me when that person eats every single word and they have no idea how great I am, how much I give back, how much I help others and how positive my life is.

So from this point going forward, if you start noticing yourself going into a place that you don't like or you start nooticing yourself saying "I just, I'm not good enough," you don't have to stay there.

From this moment forward, for the rest of your life, just remember this: You decide.

You can make a decision.

You control your life, your life does not control you.

[Michael] The old Mike...

I just went with the flow, not thinking of the bigger picture.

Just being that dude who's just making an impact in one dot and that's myself, and that's it.

People in my community was telling me that I wasn't gonna be anything.

"You ain't gonna do anything with your life."

But I, I've decided to use that as motivation.

I've done some terrible things to the community that I was living in.

I feel like I'm obligated to come back and uh, give back to the Bronx.

I'm seeing things in a much larger view, and I wanna impact a lot more other people.

[Ryan] Well, being on this road trip, it gave me uh, some more hope.

ëCause I feel like I was running low, very low, on hope.

Running low on my forgiveness for people, my dreams, you know, like I was starting to shut down myself.

When I go back home, I feel like I'll wake up like with a little smile and be like, huh, I mean it's gonna be alright, I'ma get there, it's gonna be cool.

[Summer] Before the road trip, I was slowly making myself disappear.

I hated myself ëcause of it.

When I started hearing all these people tell me and stuff, it started clicking.

Like, maybe I am something.

Maybe I am valuable.

I do have a purpose.

And it started opening up the door of, maybe I can love myself.

Maybe that door is possible.

♪ [Michael] What route did we take?

[Ryan] So we went all the way up... [Summer] We took the 9.

[Michael] Yea, you wanna cut through there, boom boom boom.

Keep going.

[Summer] And then, from Las Vegas, we went to Utah.

[Ryan] Bryce Canyon's right there.

[Summer] Now that I actually reflect and go back to seeing how I was, I was like bitter, angry.

I was just hating the world.

And now, I'm like the world is so beautiful!

Like, there's so many things out there, it's not just that one spot.

[Fireworks popping] [Ryan] Woo!

Being on this road trip, it just gave me a new hope, ëcause I've seen people that actually went through the struggle, and that's the part I was missing in my head.

[Summer] I thought they were just gonna be interviews, but they turned out to be something more.

And I can honestly say with this road trip, it showed me love and care in places I didn't think was possible.

They gave me a reason and a purpose to stay on earth.

It really saved my life, actually.

I can say it saved my life.

[Ryan] I'm not afraid.

So I just got that fire; it's the fire inside me still burning.

Just never give up, no matter what you go through, you know?

[Michael] So for those that's in my shoes, who's currently dealing with the struggle that I've dealt with, the route that you're so used to isn't your only route.

I think that this road trip has given me the fate, so now I feel like these dreams, these bigger dreams, that I'm starting to have now are obtainable.

And uh, I'm looking to be someone who has done the impossible.