Your father's gone north to work and left a void in the household. Your mother is too tired from her own grueling job to offer as much guidance and nurturing as she'd like. School promises no immediate reward. Your most accessible source of social support comes from one of the many drug-dealing gangs in your city.

Maybe you're grand-fathered into the gang by having a sibling, or another older relative, already involved. Either way, soon you're selling drugs and huffing the paint-thinner toluene daily. Your future prospects are now dimmer still.

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That's the reality faced by many kids in Monterrey, Mexico, where a confluence of factors lead many young lives to end as grim statistics in the violent drug trade roiling the United States' southern neighbor.

An American named Rory Smith studied the negative factors impacting youth in Monterrey while writing his master's thesis for the University of Lund. He discovered something interesting: That the risky sport of rock-climbing offered an outlet that can not only provide short-term distraction from Monterrey's destructive temptations, but also give them the self-confidence and inspiration to build better longterm futures.

"Getting to the top of a climb is a major achievement for these youth; it's an accomplishment that they themselves thought impossible," Smith tells Mashable. "And for them to show themselves that they can accomplish something from their own willpower is the first step in showing them that they can do a lot more than they ever thought possible with their lives."

Falling in with violent drug gangs can be tough to avoid for kids in Monterrey, Mexico. Image: Museo Mutante

Smith teamed up with Mexican social scientist Nadia Vazquez and Swedish colleague Nicklas Karlsson in 2013 to found a group called Escalando Fronteras (Climbing Borders). Its aim is to provide a structured outlet for kids from Monterrey to find a positive way to spend their time while building life-skills through rock climbing.

Over the past six months, the team has worked with about 100 kids between the ages of seven and 18 in Monterrey, a popular destination for serious climbers. About 50 of those kids have been regular participants, with Smith and his colleagues taking them to both a local gym and nearby outdoor climbing spots.

Escalando Fronteras has worked with about 100 kids in Monterrey so far; it hopes to expand that reach to 1,000 kids soon. Image: Museo Mutante

The effects of a supportive community, close contact with nature and athletic exertion have been significant; many of the regular participants have distanced themselves from gang life and stopped using hard drugs, according to Smith.

"The sport shows them that they are capable of accomplishing things that they felt were impossible and this inevitably translates to other aspects of their lives," he says. "It opens up and expands what they thought possible."

But Smith says what he and his partners have done so far was only a "pilot program." They started a crowdfunding drive on Monday in hopes of raising $30,000 to establish a permanent youth center in Monterrey centered around climbing. The goal is to expand the circle of at-risk kids they work with from 100 to 1,000. In addition to climbing facilities, they see the space as a center for kids to get tutoring, job training and mentorship.

If the center is Monterrey is a success, the Escalando Fronteras group hopes to expand its operations to other cities in Mexico. Then, if all goes perfectly, they hope to open another center in Caracas, Venezuela — one of the world's most violent cities — two years from now. Judging by what Smith says Escalando Fronteras has been able to accomplish so far, that could be a great boon to a great many at-risk youth.

"None of these kids have ever been told that they could be something," he says. "They don't have parents that believe in them. No one believes in them. What climbing does is show that they can ... get to high places both on the rock and in life, and that we are there to give them guidance and support along the way."

An Escalando Fronteras outing to Potrero Chico, a famous rock-climbing location near Monterrey. Image: Museo Mutante

You can learn more about Escalando Fronteras here, and check out the team's crowdfunding drive here.