HOUSTON-Ayo Ishmail is only thinking about music when he's inside the Beat Shop, a studio at Workshop Houston.
The Houston Chronicle reports he records songs and produces music videos for his rap group A.Y.O Nation using equipment in the tiny two-story blue building on Sauer Street in Third Ward.
"This is the spot," he said of the space.
The 17-year-old junior has been coming to the Workshop Houston after-school program, since his freshman year. He works on his music, but Workshop Houston also provides him tutoring for schoolwork.
That notion of the workshop being a positive gathering spot for Third Ward teens has survived even as the program has evolved over the years from a bike repair program to a multi-pronged educational magnet for kids.
The program's original idea, conceived by four college friends in the Third Ward, was to emulate a college bike repair shop where they worked. Katy Goodman, an original co-founder of the program in 2003, remembers how she and the other founders worked at the student run bicycle cooperative at Oberlin College in Ohio, giving them the idea to start one in Houston.
"Houston was such a big city, but we didn't feel like it was overcrowded with people doing projects like ours at the time," said Goodman, who now helps raise funds for the nonprofit.
At Workshop Houston, students can now participate in four different workshops-fashion design, music, dance or tutoring. Just as importantly, the program provides a safe haven in a neighborhood often marked by crime and poverty.
The founders initiative paid off in 2014 when Michelle Obama awarded the program with the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award, a prestigious honor that only 12 after-school programs nationally received out of 350 nominations.
At its core the program is trying to help kids, many from troubled backgrounds, grow and succeed.
"We always keep money on us because our kids often are hungry. They need things like haircuts, clothing .. just all sorts of things," said Reginald Hatter, the program's executive director. "When the kids come to Workshop Houston, they come here because it's like a second home."
Hatter sees himself in the kids, remembering his own childhood growing up in South Central Los Angeles. He said he joined gangs and got arrested at 11 for stealing cars, but quickly realized that type of lifestyle wasn't for him.
"I wish I had something to allow me to just really do me," Hatter recalls thinking as a kid. "That's what we do here."
About 36 students are enrolled in the program, but the organization is hoping to expand. Its current building is cramped. Students are crammed into a tiny music studio. The Style Shop, where the teens were recently designing ugly Christmas sweaters, also doesn't have much space. Program leaders hope to open up a new building on a vacant lot next to the current space. The nonprofit is only about $30,000 away from its fundraising goal of $1.9 million, Goodman said recently. The new building, expected to begin construction in 2017, will have 6,800 square feet of space to accommodate more than 100 students.
"We're dealing with children in gangs, coming from toxic homes," said Bryant Christopher, one of the program leaders who oversees the tutoring program. "If this program didn't exist, who knows where they would be?"
When Nshimirimana Happynaiss, who goes by "Happy", first began attending Workshop Houston at age 11, she thought she wanted to be a singer.
She eagerly went to the Beat Shop, but then found herself drawn to the Style Shop, where they sketch, draw and make clothes. Happynaiss quickly fell in love with fashion design and now wants to pursue it as a career.
She notices how students change throughout their time in the program, noting how one kid in the beginning was rude and mean to others, but after a while started bonding with the other students.
"It inspires you to do better," Happynaiss said about the program.
Brigite Nikizaq sews skirts and jeans for herself when she comes to the program after school. She didn't even know how to sew when she joined six years ago, but now teaches other students how.
Nikizaq wants to be an artist after she finishes school and believes Style Shop helps prepare her. The 18-year-old said before the program she really had nothing else to do after school besides homework.
Ishmail plays a video on the computer desktop of him and his music partner rapping to their song "Love My City," as they walk around downtown Houston. They produced the music video using equipment provided by Workshop Houston.
He admits the kids he knows who don't come here after school might be out getting in trouble saying, "Some people who aren't here might be out on the streets."
Christopher said he notices the confidence kids develop at Workshop Houston. He tries to compliment them on a daily basis. Just like the other program leaders, he also provides for them outside the four-hours after school, such as buying a student his books. Houston Food Bank also provides meals for the students. An art therapy program comes in on Mondays for one-on-one counseling.
Hatter said he's always receiving messages from the students on social media and through text. He notices how kids can finally relax when they get to the building, because it's an escape from other troubled areas in their lives.
"When kids get here, they feel protected. They feel free," Hatter said. "They feel they can finally let their guard down."