University Neighborhood Partners supports many connections and partnerships that address community health and wellness. Some partnerships promote and provide access to healthy lifestyles. Others relate to the needs of people and families who are affected by disabilities. Still others deal directly with issues related to physical, emotional, and mental health and/or substance use. One by one, we connect families and individuals from diverse backgrounds to resources and needed services. More importantly, we support them in overcoming adversity and building their resilience and support systems, increasing their capacity to address their health needs in the future.
Hartland Community 4 Youth & Families (HC4YF) promotes youth development, health, and academic success through a range of activities that engage youth in their local communities, natural environment, and athletics. The Hartland Youth Soccer Club is the centerpiece of HC4YF’s youth programming. Soccer participants learn valuable team skills, build healthy lifestyles, and work with positive role models through weekly practices and games. But it doesn’t stop with soccer. HYSC monitors student grades and attendance and engages parents and teachers in order to support participants’ academic success. Soccer club players also get involved with other HC4YF activities including the Jordan River Community Initiative and “Adopt a Trail” program.
Soccer club participants are rewarded when they improve their GPA with outside activities that are equally educational. All of this is connected to working with parents and older kids as coaches, and to the dream of pursuing higher education. Through partnership efforts with UNP, HC4YF is now is a 501(c)3 organization and has become a stronger program through the development of a board and greater fundraising efforts.
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Utah Regional Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (URLEND)
Through URLEND, UNP works with Utah State University’s Center for Persons with Disabilities to support a partnership that increases awareness of disability issues and related resources within refugee and immigrant background families in the Salt Lake Valley.
Identified goals of this partnership include offering fellowship opportunities, increasing awareness and understanding of these issues among partners and communities, and distributing information about these issues through partnering organizations.
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Latino Behavioral Health Services (LBHS) a full peer-to-peer and family-to-family organization that stemmed from Latino community members connecting with the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) and other agencies’ evidence-based programs. The mission of LBHS is to raise awareness, empower people with Serious Mental illnesses and Substance Use Disorders (SMI & SUD), and support their recovery by providing culturally and linguistically responsive services.
Through UNP partnership support, LBHS is now a 501(c)3 organization and has a strengthened board. The success of this organization has been such that it hosted the 2015 Utah State Peer to Peer Summit and has been charged with the task to host the same Conference in May 2016. The LBHS service model of Awareness, Empowerment and Recovery has helped young and adult people to improve their family dynamics, return to work and aspire to higher education goals.
Participants have joined Westside Leadership Institute courses, developing projects such as “Guia Para Padres de Ninos con Autismo” (Parents of Children with Autism Guidebook), “Orientando y Apoyando a los Adolescentes” (Guiding and Supporting Teenagers), and Entrenamientos para Especialistas en la Prevencion del Suicidio (Suicide Prevention Specialist training), and emotional intelligence for children 6 to 11 years old. Children of these families are now enrolled at the U and the Salt Lake Community College, pursuing medical science and social work degrees. The growth and empowerment in our community is exciting.
Latino Behavioral Health Services’ office is located at 3471 S West Temple. They can be reached at (801) 935-4447.