Cully Pratt and Mark Lillis Share How They Are Working to Help At-Risk Communities

Cully Prat and Mark Lillis sat down with Billy Hallowell for the PureFlix podcast where they shared how they are working to change the hearts of man in order to turn communities around.

Mark Lillis is the founder of The Leaven, a mentorship and learning center that works to help kids in “high density, high crime neighborhoods” have better lives. The learning centers are intentionally placed in the middle of struggling neighborhoods and they work to provide kindergarteners through fifth graders with a safe and productive place to spend their time after school and during the summers. 

Lillis said, “We established a tutoring center within the neighborhood and it’s kindergarten through fifth grade because we were told by the Department of Education that, at the third-grade level, if a child is behind, there’s a high, high probability that they will be dropping out of high school.”

At the centers, kids are not only studying their school curriculum, but they are also being taught life skills such as healthy eating, active living and college preparedness, and being given the chance to meet and develop relationships with first responders.

Pratt, who has worked in law enforcement for some 16 years, said this is the best program he knows of that allows him to develop relationships with at-risk kids. Pratt told Hallowell, “This is one of the best programs…