Near the southeast corner of Pima and Alvernon is a complex of two buildings with a parking lot between. It's called Youth on their Own. On the south side is their mini-mall, at 1642-B North Alvernon; an Isaac Caruso mural graces the north wall of that building with a young woman graduate and saguaro blossoms:
The north side has another building, at 1660 North Alvernon; a long wall stretches from it toward Alvernon. On the wall is a mural with the theme of blowing a seed off of a dandelion. It's hard to see the whole thing from a distance:
The right-hand end looks to me like a stylized flower. Next to it is a dandelion, with seeds floating toward the left end of the mural. Here's the view from the left:
Next, the seed and the dandelion:
Nice, isn't it? It was painted by
Porter McDonald; he calls it “Flight.”
I was there on April 10th.
Update (December 7, 2021): The Arizona Daily Star's online section #ThisIsTucson has published a story about Youth On Their Own:
For three decades, this Tucson-area nonprofit has helped homeless teens navigate life.
Update (May 3, 2024): Today's post shows a long mural at YOTO's new administration building, a few miles away from here on Country Club Road, painted sometime in the past year.
Update (July 5, 2024): Today I saw the article
Youth On Their Own Moves to New “Forever Home” at 2525 N Country Club Rd and realized that the “administration building” actually holds all of YOTO. That complex opened in November, 2023. I stopped by this old location; the murals are still there.
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