Director's Note

Shared Community

How many roads must a man walk down

Before you call him a man?

How many seas must a white dove sail

Before she sleeps in the sand?

Yes, how many times must the cannon balls fly

Before they’re forever banned?

The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind

The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

Blowin In The Wind, Bob Dylan

The small styrofoam containers with white rice and chicken curry are a welcomed break. I still haven’t mastered how to remove the very small, seemingly microscopic rubber bands that serve as closure for the small plastic bags that hold the pungent yellow curry. There are more, even smaller bags with soup and fish paste. I think everything in Southeast Asia must come with fish paste and chili of some kind. A quarter of a tissue for a napkin and I am in heaven…and very content (more accurately shocked and relieved) that we made it through the first morning of training with the community at the Ban Mai Noi Soi Refugee Camp outside of Mae Hong Song in Thailand. …and yes, that is Bob Dylan playing the background…

By now you are no doubt wondering if you have picked up the correct publication and if so, what does the above passage have to do with University Neighborhood Partners. Indeed, I would say in some ways it is at the heart of who we are and what we do. My relationship with communities living in refugee camps in Thailand began in Salt Lake City in 2007. As I, along with other staff and partners, met new arriving families from the Thai/Burma border, we began to develop individual and family relationships, and at the same time, we became more and more aware of how little we knew about how and why people were seeking refuge in Salt Lake City and the broader U.S. Since that time, several faculty, students and community partners have traveled to the Thai/Burma border to do short-term summer training programs. In partnership with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), we developed a Train the Trainer series of workshops on a variety of community-identified topics (i.e. mental health, substance abuse, and health care). The workshops have provided new learning for the local community of educators, social service providers, faculty, and students as well as the camp communities abroad. This example could be with almost any group of people and I think it would be the same—we are constantly learning that our local experience is deeply interconnected with the global experience.

Unlike the homogeneous stereotype of Utah, the neighborhoods where UNP focuses its efforts provide a rich tapestry of diversity and unique cultural markers. The population of these west side neighborhoods is much richer in diverse ethnicities than is Salt Lake City as a whole. For instance, 74.5% of the City’s Latina/o residents live on the west side. Sixty-three percent of the population of the UNP area is from a minority ethnicity, compared to 24.9% of Salt Lake City as a whole. In addition, these neighborhoods are expected to grow at a faster rate than the rest of the city. In this edition of Community Voices, you will read stories of how westside communities are growing. Understanding and sharing this information is crucial to the future of the families who live here—and to all of us. We are each intrinsically tied to each other. The success of our futures demands that we develop thoughtful dialogues and deep relationships. You will also read about Mayor Ralph Becker’s A Capital City Education, and find out how you can play a role in developing educational pathways for Salt Lake City’s youth and families. Finally, you will read individual stories of challenge and success and may find that you can relate to these experiences because they are closely connected to your own story.

My colleagues and I go to Thailand each year because our local relationships have taken us global. As we continue these relationships, we realize that often the issues that we deal with locally are more similar than different to the issues that families and communities deal with everywhere. They share the same hopes and dreams for their children’s future, regardless of the language they speak, their political affiliation, or the country they live in. We increasingly recognize that the physical world and its divisions become smaller as our community relationships and partnerships expand and grow.