UNP Celebrates Ten Years
Jesse Whitchurch, Development Officer, University Neighborhood Partners
In this issue
- Cover
- Director's Note
- Letter from the Assistant Director
- Creation of New University Course
- UNP Beginnings
- Timelines
- Youth Education & Success
- Bridging Communities and Schools
- The Westside Studio Re-Energized!
- A Local/Global Community Coming Together
- A Journey to the Land of Smiles
- Voices from the Community
- UNP Celebrates Ten Years
- Flu Shot Clinics
- A Study In Communication
- Community Resident in Action
- A Decade of Impact
- UNP Staff
- Donors & Supporters
- UNP Partnerships
- Partners
- Financial Report
- Board of Advisors
- Appeal for Support
On Tuesday, December 6, 2011 more than 270 friends, community members, current and
former staff members and many others gathered together at the Tower at Rice-Eccles
Stadium to celebrate a milestone—University Neighborhood Partners was turning 10!
The evening started off with a brief cocktail reception whose ambience was perfectly
set to the talented accompaniment of youth from the Mundi Project: Delia Arellano,
Josselyn Ceron, Richard Contreras, Daniel Ordoñez, Ester Ordoñez, Olivia Tedder, and
Tiffany Xu. Students displayed the fruits of their countless hours of practice by
performing pieces by Faber and Faber, Liszt, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, DeBussy,
Moszkowski, and Hayden.
The evening honored Irene S. Fisher, University Neighborhood Partners’ founding director,
J. Bernard Machen, then President of the University of Utah under whose direction
the presidential initiative forming UNP was founded, and countless community members,
faculty and administrators who were pivotal in the early years of the organization.
The celebration reflected fondly upon the humble and frequently frenetic beginnings
of the University of Utah’s work in Salt Lake City’s west-side communities as well
as the progress over the past decade.
The highlight of the evening was two presentations from youth organized by Kelby McIntyre-Martinez,
University of Utah College of Education, and Trinh Mai, Jenny Guerra, and Isaac Karikari
from the College of Social Work. Youth from the UNP/ Hartland Partnership Center expressed
their interpretations of freedom. First, the Hartland boys performed a rap they wrote
set to the rhythm of a drum. The audience then enjoyed a dance performed by girls
from Hartland. The softened expressions on the faces of everyone in attendance illustrated
the profound impact of the performance.
Through the simple act of bringing community residents and representatives from the
university together, each were able to experience the other’s unique role in the community.
As the evening was drawing to a close, a special presentation took to the stage to honor a few of the countless people important to the past, present and future of UNP. Past board chairs Fred Esplin and Carolyn Hoskins; current university administrators, A. Lorris Betz, Interim President and David W. Pershing, Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs both at the Univeristy of Utah; and Irene Fisher and Bernie Machen were all presented with tiles designed and made by artists from Bad Dog Arts which will be hung in the recently acquired building which will house the new Hartland Partnership Center.
Truly a night to be remembered.
