Director's Note

Welcome to University Neighborhood Partners’ inaugural edition of CommUnity Voices. This publication marks a change in how we will tell the UNP story. For the past nine years, UNP has developed, engaged, connected, integrated, and facilitated partners from institutions of higher education, schools, community organizations, business, financial partners, and the youth and families of the west side of Salt Lake City…and beyond. This is no longer just UNP’s story…it is the story of 32 partnerships in 25 west side locations and the many people, colleges and departments, schools and organizations that come together to create, exchange, teach, and learn with each other.

During fall 2009 and spring 2010, campus-school-community stakeholders partnered with over 4,000 west side residents (youth and adults) to create greater access to education and community resources that will extend the reach of families in their support of each other and their communities. Students from the University of Utah and Salt Lake Community College invested a combined total of 6,695 hours in community-based teaching, learning, and research. Guided by faculty from over 42 departments, these students found resident teachers, parent mentors, youth researchers, and friends in the seven culturally rich neighborhoods that make up the west side of Salt Lake City. Nowhere is there such a rich tapestry of culture, language, custom, and tradition. In fact, Dr. Pam Perlich’s report Utah’s Demographic Transformation: A View into the Future describes and documents this rich cultural and linguistic diversity, noting 117 languages other than English spoken in the homes of Utah students in 2007.

With this rich cultural context in mind, this publication also marks a change in whose voices are present. You will see publication entries written by the partners who do this work…the staff, the faculty, the students, the residents. As we go forward and grow as an organization, our goal is to increasingly include CommUnity Voices from diverse perspectives and multiple stakeholders. We will need your assistance in this area; we will need to hear your voice and ask that you continue to guide and support the mission of UNP to bring together University and west side resources for reciprocal learning, action, and benefit...a community coming together.

In closing, I wish to thank the members of the UNP Advisory Board, the staff, our many donors, and community partners, President Young, and the University administration for their ongoing commitment to increasing access and opportunity for west side youth and families.

Rosemarie Hunter, PhD, LCSW
Special Assistant to the President for Campus Community Partnerships
Director, University Neighborhood Partners
Assistant Professor, College of Social Work