Ideally, says Ken Hull, program manager at Transition to Adult Living, there would be a mentor for each of the 250 youths who age out each year. And those youths would be mentored beginning at age 17.

In addition to getting help from the State's Transition to Adult Living program, and Big Brothers and Big Sisters, members of the Youth Mentor Project rely on each other for both emotional support and as a network of ideas and resources. Lawyer Bert Dart has helped with court problems; University of Utah professor Jim Strozier has helped tutor math. Mentors have helped a youth pick out a used car, look for an apartment, learn how to balance a checkbook.

"The basic skills of life," as Daniel Romero says. Romero lived with a dozen foster families, starting when he was 11. After aging out of the system, he moved to an apartment but couldn't manage his money. He started doing drugs. He was evicted. When he first met the Darts, he couldn't figure them out.

"I didn't know what in the heck they wanted, why they would bother, for what reason. Were they getting paid?" Romero remembers. Now, three years later, he thinks he knows the answer: "They're seeing a better life."

Romero turned 21 last week, then headed south to Cedar City, where he'll enroll at Southern Utah University.

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E-mail: jarvik@desnews.com

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