Ramses is mixing ink at a color-spattered table on one side of the vast space that houses Ashbury Images, a screen-printing business owned and operated by New Door Ventures – a nonprofit that helps at-risk youth prepare for work and life. Ramses is a big, soft-spoken guy. Stacks of red shirts stand like snow drifts amongst the machinery and cardboard boxes. The T-Third line streetcar rattles by outside, on its way south to hardscrabble Bayview-Hunters Point. Ramses grew up not far from here; he’s spent his entire life in the house where he still lives with his parents. He’s 21 years old. This is his first job.

About four years ago, he started getting in trouble. He was hanging out with the wrong crowd, skipping school, getting in fights, and breaking the law. He was locked up several times during his late teens; just before coming to Ashbury Images he served a seven-month sentence. He got tired of it, he says. The birth of his daughter, when he was 20 years old, strengthened Ramses’ determination to make something of his life.

When he was released from jail, he landed a six-month internship at Ashbury Images. He started out “catching shirts,” which means pulling them from the machine where they’re screened, loading them onto the belt of the dryer, and unloading them at the other end. He folded, boxed, and labeled shirts, then shipped them out. In the process, he earned a reputation as a good worker.

“I’m a hard worker and I’m determined to do a good job,” Ramses says. “I like to work and I don’t think negative.” His work ethic paid off. At the end of his internship, he was offered a full-time, permanent position at Ashbury Images. He wants to learn as much as he can about printing and sticks close to the more experienced workers. “If you’re interested, you learn more,” Ramses explains. “It’s up to you to pay attention and ask questions.”

Ramses himself wears a plain white T-shirt. “We don’t print them big enough for me,” he explains with a laugh. His family— including his father, who often worked three or four jobs to support his wife and kids—is proud of him. “I’ve been pretty good,” Ramses concedes. “I don’t get frustrated, and I see now that there’s no reason to get mad over things that don’t matter. So I just let it go. I stay focused on work. Right now I want to concentrate on the positive and see how far I can go.”