Impact Report: Fall 2013

Each year, University Neighborhood Partners strives to somehow quantify the impact of its partnership work. Since UNP was started in 2001, the ways in which we collect and analyze data has evolved, and continues to do so, to meet the needs of our stakeholders and partners.

While some of the impact UNP has on systems and people is easy to measure, most of it is difficult to draw neat lines around. To this end, here is an excerpt of what we like to call our “annual partnership report.” It is important to note that any and all of these examples are the result of a truly shared partnership between residents of West Salt Lake City, community non-profit organizations, U of U students, faculty, and staff, other institutions of higher education, the Salt Lake City School District, and local government—all working together to achieve jointly identified goals. These successes belong to everyone and are only milestones on our longer journey.

UNP’s mission is to “bring together University and west side resources for reciprocal learning, action and benefit... a community coming together.” In short, UNP’s work is to be a ‘convener’, to create connections between partners that strengthen the partners’ capacity to do their work. The long-term goal of UNP partnership work is to reduce barriers, both in the community and in systems of higher education, to expand access to higher education. This report tries to convey some of the shortterm ‘outcomes’ of UNP partnership work, and also the longer-term ‘impact’ of the connections that these partnerships foster.

After 11 years of work, the greatest impacts of UNP partnership work are connections between organizations, residents, institutions of higher education, and other systems that impact access to education in west side neighborhoods. In some cases, these connections lead to system change at high levels of City government, the School District, and the University itself. In other cases, the connections create pathways that allow residents to take intentional, forward-moving steps toward their goals.

UNP’s ability to create meaningful, long-term connections between multiple levels of decision-makers (individuals, organizations, systems) and multiple sectors (e.g. education, health care, local decisionmaking, housing, employment, etc) is probably its greatest and most unique contribution.

Here are a few additional recent highlights:

• More than 1,247 K-12 students were involved in UNP partnership work this year
• Created a new school paraprofessional pathway to provide educational opportunities to support student success in schools
• Almost 300 current or past participants in UNP partnership work have gone on to higher education
• Between 2002-03 and 2011-12, enrollment at the University of Utah from the UNP area (ZIP codes 84104 and 84116) increased almost 400%. Graduation rates for the same group increased by more than 360%.
• 261 residents were involved in leadership training
• 20 English and 23 Spanish-speakers graduated from the Westside Leadership Institute during the 2012-13 academic year
• Engaged more than 50% of U of U departments
• In its 4th year, and co-sponsored with the Lowell Bennion Center and Utah Campus Compact, the Engaged Faculty Institute brought together 75 faculty and administrators from across the state

With your partnership, We look forward to many great years to come!

Partnership Quality for Academic Year 2013-2014