As a person who believes strongly in data, results, statistics and systems, one might assume Cary native Steve Dobo would be boxed in. But at any given moment, Dobo is looking outside the box, outside his town, outside his nation and beyond any precedent to find creative solutions to help high school dropouts.

Today, he lives in Denver, Colo., and tracks down youth, one by one, who have quit school and want to return.

In North Carolina, recent statistics about the high school dropout rate were encouraging: The rate fell from 5.24 percent in 2006-07 to 4.97 in 2007-08. But reading between the lines tells another story: 22,434 students in North Carolina dropped out last year, leading to lost tax revenue, higher Medicaid costs and increased costs for incarceration.

According to a paper published by the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation, “One year’s class of dropouts will cost North Carolina taxpayers $8.5 billion [over a 50-year period].”

No one knows these sobering facts better than Dobo, who has made it his mission to help dropouts go back to school.

Dobo, who grew up in Cary “when it was a small town,” has had an ever-evolving career path touching on his scientific side (financial analysis, small-business consulting) and counseling side (career counseling for women on welfare, helping runaway teens, educating at a homeless shelter). Over the years, he noticed one common denominator: “No one seemed to be reaching out to the dropouts. They wanted to go back to school but didn’t know how.”

In February 2005, Dobo created Colorado Youth for a Change. His only manpower was himself and a board of directors — mostly friends. In the first year, he singlehandedly worked with 85 high school dropouts and got 55 back into school.

At first, Dobo concentrated on dropout recovery. He researched the barriers to dropouts returning to school. Paperwork piled up in his car as he met with students, finding some at laundromats on the overnight shift, others at home caring for their own babies.

Dobo worked on the next piece of the puzzle: creating a charter school, the Academy of Urban Learning.

“Large, traditional high schools do not fit for every kid,” Dobo said.

“We need to create smaller environments to succeed.”

Often, when dropouts do try to re-enter high school, there are no seats available. Dobo’s charter school offered a smaller setting more conducive to success. Since then, he has opened West Career Academy, which is in its second year.

Brian Brinkerhoff, now CYC program manager, remembers Dobo leaving his previous job to start CYC.

“There was a buzz about Steve,” Brinkerhoff said. “Upon first hearing about [his efforts], they do sound Don Quixote-like,” he said. “But by bringing order and system to something that has been neglected for so long, he comes up with concrete solutions. His visions are totally reasonable.”

For instance, Brinkerhoff said, Dobo, like others, found that if students did not pass ninth grade, they often dropped out. But unlike others around the country, Dobo looked closer. What, exactly, was the sticking point? Turns out, students got behind in algebra. Dobo figured if tutors focused on algebra with those students falling behind, dropouts could be prevented.

“Steve has an amazing facility with details,” said Brinkerhoff. “He is good at helping people come up with tangible steps and implement a plan.” Those details and figures, noticeable immediately on CYC’s homepage, have helped Dobo gain notoriety for his vision. Now, with seven employees, eight board members and 30 volunteer tutors, he has expanded his message to metro Denver school systems, has a proposal ready for Philadelphia schools and was asked to send a plan for helping dropouts to President Obama’s transition team in January. CYC will be a charity partner in May’s Colfax Marathon in Denver.

Long-term? “We have to be innovative, be creative in solving this problem,” Dobo said. A voracious reader, he has found ideas in unlikely places: He read about design students at Stanford who use design to solve social problems. Dobo has asked them to take on the issue of high school dropouts.

He is also working with a group in Guatemala. “Our students are designing a high school for an indigenous town,” Dobo said. “We want to involve kids who have dropped out so they can contribute to education.”

While his numbers are impressive — 55 to 60 percent of kids his team assists return to high school — what about the ones who don’t? “I’m very optimistic,” said Dobo. “I always look for kids’ potential; I’m keying in on that. Any small success is a win.”

From his time working in homeless shelters, he picked up a saying: “If you leave the door open, they’ll always come back.”