After being stabbed in the head by her sister, Marian Conrad was removed from her home at age 14 and was left homeless a year later. Today, she works for the Pima County Health Department and is on her way to a law degree at the University of Arizona.

The path to her current situation was shaped with the help of Youth on Their Own, a non-profit organization which helps homeless teens graduate from high school. Youth on Their Own provided support while she lived on her own and worked her way through high school and college.

“I was very fortunate; the high school counselor at Flowing Wells High School got me in touch with Youth On Their Own,” Conrad said. “I had a very good experience with Youth On Their Own. They are very encouraging and supportive.”

In 1986, Amphitheater High School counselor Ann Young founded Youth On Their Own after witnessing multiple student drop outs due to homelessness. The program offers three services: financial assistance, basic needs provision and guidance.

Students between ages 18 and 22 have two criteria they must meet to be eligible for the program: they must be living without a parent or legal guardian and they must be working toward a high school diploma. If students are old enough to find employment, they also must be employed to take part in the program.

“Our focus is dropout prevention,” said Tomas Leon, director of Youth On Their Own. “We want to catch them in the situation early enough before they drop out of school. Once that young person drops out of school and ends up developing survival skills on the street, it is very, very difficult to get them back to go the other direction.”

The program works with 85 schools throughout Pima County. A liaison is established with each school to identify homeless students and recommend them to the program. The liaisons are all volunteers. They look for signs such as poor health, poor hygiene, lack of food or clothing, or other indicators.

During the past school year, 585 students were enrolled in the program. The year before, 770 students were enrolled in the program. In 17 years, the program has enrolled 7,500 youth.

Students sign a contract to participate, agreeing to maintain certain standards in order to access Youth On Their Own services. The students must submit monthly progress reports signed by the liaisons that indicated the student’s attendance and progress in school, substituting the monitoring of a parent.

The progress report also acts like a time sheet for a job. If students are slipping past accepted levels, they can receive deductions to their financial assistance, which comes in the form of a monthly stipend of $125 dollars.

“It is a performance-based financial system. It works really well, because the students feel like it’s not handouts, like they’re earning it,” Leon said.

Youth On Their Own also maintains an emergency fund that can help students meet unexpected expenses, including purchasing supplies for extracurricular activities. The organization promotes participation in after-school activities because studies link them to academic success, Leon said.

The organization also provides college scholarships to students. The scholarships range from $500 to $1,000 per student.

“Most of our students are first generation college bound, meaning nobody in their family had ever gone to college. In some cases, they are first generation graduating from high school,” Leon said.

The basic needs portion of the program provides supplies such as food, clothes, school and household items, and other necessities. The program even offers medical care. A half dozen doctors and dentists offer their services.

Providing the students with guidance, Youth On Their Own volunteers help students work through problems, advocate for students in place of a parent, and teach students life skills. Basically, program volunteers play the role of surrogate parents.

“When you are an at-risk student, I think most people don’t realize how much negative … feedback you get from your teachers and your counselors,” Conrad said. “Youth On Their Own really didn’t give me that negative feedback.”

Leon’s goal is to create and develop more partnerships between Youth On Their Own and the local business community. About 25 businesses and business organizations are partnering with the program, including companies such as Michael Bolchalk Marketing and Monterey Homes.

“We have a wonderful partnership with the Tucson Coaches Alliance,” Leon said.

The Tucson Coaches Alliance partnered with Youth On Their Own earlier this year to provide its services to the staff and students. After some coordination, the coaches began working with the students in May. Tucson Coaches Alliance member Renee Freedman, who specializes in coaching for nonprofit executives, provided coaching services for Leon beginning in February. Freedman learned about the program through her niece, who was a member.

“It was very important for her to stay in school and graduate,” Freedman said. “I was really impressed. She stayed in school and she did graduate.”

Getting more businesses involved with the organization, Youth On Their Own started a new program called Strategies For Success a couple of years ago. This program provides seminars for students on how to develop life, education and work skills. Business and education professionals are encouraged to participate as presenters in the seminars. Business also can participate in the program by offering job shadowing, employment or scholarship opportunities.

“That program involves the business community in a major way,” Leon said. “We are looking for people in the business community to become career coaches.”

The pilot program involved eight students, five of which are now in college. Each student received a personal computer and a scholarship. Last year, 16 students participated in the program, and now half are in college.

The new program is a success in its own right, but it reflects the success of Youth On Their Own’s overall mission to promote high school graduation. During the past school year, 162 participants in the program graduated from high school. Another half dozen are expected to graduate this month.

“The main measure of our success is the number of students who graduate every year,” Leon said. “Our graduation rate has been around 86-plus percent in a state that has the lowest graduation rate in the country at 71 percent.”