Homeless Youth Connection

We had such a special time celebrating graduation season at HYC! 🎓💙

This year, 152 youth across our program graduated from high school, and 8 of those graduates are residents of HYC’s Hatcher Transitional Living Program. Youth were surrounded by staff, board members, and peers for pizza, cake, balloons, and lots of cheering each other on.

These youth worked incredibly hard through challenges, while balancing school, jobs, major life transitions, and planning for their future. Now they’re heading into college, healthcare programs, cosmetology school, military service, and more.

We are so proud of everything they’ve accomplished and everything still ahead of them. Congratulations to our graduates and to every young person continuing to take brave steps toward stability and independence! ✨

Behind every graduation is a young person thinking about what comes next. 🎓

From college and trade school to careers, housing, and long-term goals, HYC graduates are already planning their next steps and building futures of their own. Here are a few of the goals, dreams, and plans our youth are working toward after graduation.

At HYC, graduation is more than a moment — it’s the beginning of momentum. 💙

Learn more or support here: https://bit.ly/4wI96Fp 🔗

This graduation season, your support helps youth move forward with stability, opportunity, and hope.

-$25 helps cover medical co-pays and prescriptions
-$50 provides meals for youth
-$75 covers school fees and supplies
-$100 supports one month of HYC services for one young person

At HYC, we know graduation is not the end of the story. It’s the beginning of what comes next.
🎓Support graduating youth today: 🔗https://bit.ly/4wI96Fp

This year, 36 HYC youth are receiving the Dorothy Fisher Scholarship, continuing their education at universities, community colleges, trade schools, and training programs across Arizona and beyond. 🎓

They are pursuing nursing, engineering, business, education, the arts, and more—each path shaped by hope, resilience, and hard work.

We are deeply grateful to the Dorothy Fisher Scholarship donors for making this possible and helping remove barriers so youth can stay focused on their education and what comes next. 💙

The HYC Class of 2026 is building momentum toward what comes next. 🎓95% of HYC seniors are on track to graduate this May and transition into their next chapter. To the HYC Class of 2026: Congratulations! Your resilience, hard work, and determination continue to inspire us every day.

Rilee’s path to graduation has not been a straight line.

After losing his mother in 2022 and navigating his father’s incarceration, he spent years moving between schools and trying to stay on track while largely on his own. Stability was something he had to build, not something he was given.

His story is a reminder that graduation is not just an ending. For HYC youth, it’s a turning point shaped by resilience, support, and the possibility of what comes next.

📖 Read Rilee’s full story to find out what’s next for him: https://hycaz.org/rilee-graduation/

📍 This graduation season, your support helps youth like Rilee take their next step forward.

Support youth graduating today: https://bit.ly/4wI96Fp

Rilee’s Path to Graduation - Homeless Youth Connection Music brings us together in celebration A SENIOR'S STORY OF LOSS AND STARTING OVER As graduation approaches, Rilee is thinking less about the ceremony, and more about what comes next. For most of his life, stability hasn’t been guaranteed—three different elementary schools, three different high ...

This Teacher Appreciation Week, we’re celebrating the incredible educators and school partners who show up for youth every day.

At HYC, we see firsthand how often it’s a teacher who notices when something isn’t right and takes the step to connect a student with support through a school liaison.

Thank you for being trusted adults, advocates, and often the first bridge to safety and stability for youth experiencing homelessness.

We are grateful for your partnership! 🎒🎓

We’re currently restocking essential items for the youth we serve, and we’d love your help if you’re able with:

-Razors (men’s & women’s)
-Body wash
-Face wash
-Hair conditioner
-Paper towels

These are everyday items, but they go a long way in helping young people feel clean, confident, and cared for as they move through their day.

👉 If you’d like to support, you can pick an item or shop directly through our Amazon Wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3HK9OLSZNT9Y?ref_=wl_share

We’re grateful to QuikTrip for their generous donation to Homeless Youth Connection. This funding supports essential basic needs and case management services, helping youth access the resources and stability they need to move forward.

DID YOU KNOW? QuikTrip’s impact goes even further. Every QT location serves as a Safe Place site, offering immediate help to youth in crisis and making a difference every day.

Thank you to Joana Parra, Community Affairs Coordinator for the Phoenix Division, and the entire QuikTrip team for investing in the futures of youth in our community!

Thank you to everyone who sent items through our Amazon Wishlist. We’ve started receiving packages and are so grateful! Your donations are helping us provide essential hygiene items like deodorant to youth in our program. A few arrived without names attached, so if that was you, please know how much we appreciate your generosity.

👉 Want to help? Our Amazon Wishlist is still open: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3HK9OLSZNT9Y?ref_=wl_share