2006 - 2011

2006: The First Community Advocate Training is Held

When UNP began building partnerships with parents and schools on Salt Lake’s west side it was called Youth, Education and Success (YES). The goal was to bring parents, faculty, school administrators and teachers together to figure out how to support academic success for students for whom the education system wasn’t working and to make higher education a viable option.

As part of this early work, university faculty and school partners offered a Community Advocate Training to parents of the west side neighborhoods in 2005. Eighteen residents participated, gaining more skills to advocate for their children and themselves in school settings. When the training was finished, UNP continued to work with the families individually and followed the group of parents into their individual children’s school sites. The parents were quickly increasing their involvement in their children’s schools. They were collaborating to overcome difficult challenges and barriers and using the skills they had gained through the trainings.

These same parents were also beginning to get excited about their own next steps and were coming to UNP staff and partners with ideas and questions about how to further their own educations. This was an exciting time for everyone and soon after UNP renamed YES to Education Pathways; an effort to broaden the scope of the work and an acknowledgement of what parents were teaching UNP about how this partnership work could look…parent educational pathways are a necessary ingredient for student success, but also an outcome of UNP’s work.

Today this same group of parents, with many new additions, is called the Community Advocate Network and is the outcome of working with parents and families throughout the academic school year at schools in west side neighborhoods. These advocates are at the core of Education Pathways partnerships and guide the work of UNP broadly.

Over the years, word has spread across education institutions about the Community Advocate Network and its successes in bringing families and schools together. Invitations are extended regularly for advocates to share their knowledge at conferences, in university classrooms, at K-12 school events, and more. Believing in the power of their work, the invitations are always accepted, allowing for advocate learning to reach broader audiences and for new relationships to emerge. There are currently 38 parents participating in the Community Advocate Network

Community Advocate Network 2016-17 Annual Data

• 6 Youth Advocates received full-tuition scholarships to higher education.
• 9 Youth Advocates were accepted into the University’s PATHS Program.
• 21 Community Advocates who have gone on to higher education since 2005.
• 20 Residents participated in the Community Leadership in Education contract course.
• 8 Community Advocates have became members of School Community Councils, PTAs, or PTSOs.
• 17 Community Advocates were placed at school sites as formal liaison with parents at 7 schools.
• 7 Community Advocates have received jobs in their children’s schools over the past several years.

2006 Accomplishments

• First Community Advocate training offered to Spanish speaking parents.
• Rosemarie Hunter becomes the 2nd UNP Director.
• UNP receives the Partners in Education award from Mountain View Elementary School.
• UNP Advisory Board co-chairs transition to Maria Garciaz and Fred Esplin.
• The Youth Center opens in the Hartland Partnership Center through a partnership with Utah Federation for Youth.
• First Spanish-speaking Westside Leadership Institute is taught by Luke Garrot, Moises Prospero, and Susie Porter.
• UNP Hartland Partnership Center is cited in a Mercy Housing (Denver, CO) survey of the best practices in refugee housing as an innovative model worthy of national attention.
• Humanities in Focus starts in partnership with the University’s College of Humanities.
• UNP awards its first Bridge Builder award to Vicki Mori.
• Dr. Barbara Brown receives the 2006-2007 UNP Community Scholar in Residence award.

---

2007: Mestizo Arts & Activism is Founded in Partnership with UNP

Mestizo Arts & Activism (MAA) is a University-community partnership that was founded by faculty to work with
youth in community spaces. Its inter-generational, after-school model includes high school and college student
leaders, faculty, researchers and multi-disciplinary artists from diverse ethnic and academic backgrounds. College students mentor high schoolers and work collaboratively to create change in west side communities through engagement in the arts. MAA supports youth in being active researchers regarding issues they care about, and was founded with the purpose of centering the knowledge and experiences of west side youth. Over the years, participating youth have created blogs, videos, artwork installations, and other forms of research concerning issues such as migration and education. MAA also works to connect youth to educational pathways, highlighted by the fact that, of 65 high school seniors who fully participated in the program, 96% of them have gone on to higher education.

MAA is part of a series of new structures that have emerged at the University of Utah to support up and coming
generations of diverse students entering higher education. The Office of Engagement focuses on youth from a broad range of backgrounds, and the Diversity and Beacon Scholars programs help establish youth connections to retain students who are new to college. In this way, MAA has been part of the larger collaborative effort to transform the values, opportunities, and relationship that the University of Utah has with young people in communities.

Below are snapshot narratives of this journey, over the course of 11 years, that highlight different generations of
the MAA collective and its impact.

“I remember joining Mestizo Arts & Activism my senior year back in 2015. All the memories we create together is what lead us to become a Familia. The space and individuals I have met throughout MAA has helped shape the person I am today. Throughout High School I knew what college was but I didn't know how to get there let alone know if I was even capable of it. Many students can relate when coming from the West Side of Salt Lake City. Meeting people who share similar stories to mine is what gave me the motivation to keep going and that will be a memory I will keep with me for a life time. I graduated High School and three years down the road I have the privilege to be half way done with my Bachelors degree at the University of Utah, while still being part of this wonderful collective. This is what makes this program so special, because it gives students the opportunity to grow and believe in the process of being able to succeed, and we all know that wherever we go to on our journeys, we know we will always have a family.”

~ Itzel Nava, Current Mestizo Arts & Activism Student

“As co-founders of Mestizo Arts and Activism (MAA) we continually return to the photograph, Caution (MAA Collective, 2008, left) for inspiration, joy and power. Caution was taken and composed by youth researchers in the MAA collective who capture a moment of conscientization, where we confront, name and respond to the discrimination our collective struggles with everyday. Caution allowed our collective to work across varied positions in order to mobilize action, heal, resist and reclaim our commitments to social change. A decade of research, art and activism with MAA and Caution reminds us of what we do and why. What we envisioned then remains today: a creative sustainable space of social justice for activist scholars of all ages to come together, make art, do participatory research, and engage in change in our community.”

~ MAA Founders

2007 Accomplishments

• UNP receives the Martin Luther King, Jr. Human Rights Commission Drum Major Award for Community Organization of the Year for commitment to empowering communities through education.
• Salt Lake Community Action Program opens its first Head Start classroom at the Hartland Partnership Center.
• Mike Harman and Neighborhood Housing Services receive UNP’s 2007 Bridge Builder awards.
• UNP partners with the U of U Alumni Association to begin awarding scholarships to selected west side students pursuing their education at the University.
• UNP Advisory Board co-chairs transition to Fred Esplin and Joyce Valdez.

---

2007-2008: Dr. Dolores Delgado Bernal, Adelante Co-Founder, Receives the community Scholar in Residence Award

“Adelante was for the kids, but at the same time for the parents. Parents would be invited to anything that Adelante did. Every Friday we had a parent meeting. When it started it was called Second Cup of Coffee, but we didn’t like that name so we named it Parents in Action. We weren’t just there for a cup of coffee. We were doing stuff, running the Halloween carnival and other events.

“Two of my three kids were part of Adelante. They were in the Ballet Folklorico dance program, and they went on field trips to the university. I remember one trip to the U’s science building. It was hands-on, with the kids doing experiments. I also remember a project where the students had to interview us about their names. They brought a piece of paper home with a bunch of questions, like “How did you guys figure out you wanted that name for me? Where did it come from? What does it mean?” Just to find out about their roots, where they come from. I remember my son when he was in first or second grade getting a certificate at the end of the year and he said, ‘I just graduated from the University!’ It was a big deal.”

~ Cecilia Hernandez, previous parent leader with Adelante

In 2005, Dr. Dolores Delgado Bernal, Dr. Octavio Villalpando, and Dr. Enrique Alemán were on faculty at the U’s College of Education, working to counter the failures of the education system when it comes to students of color, and Chican@Latin@ students in particular. They were also all parents of young children attending Jackson Elementary School, in SLC’s Rose Park neighborhood. In a bid to bring their personal resources together with those of the school, the university, and the community, the three colleagues approached Principal Sandra Buendia and the leadership at Jackson. Their proposal: to improve the college-going culture of the school, beginning with Jackson’s youngest students.

The resulting partnership, Adelante (meaning “forward moving” or “looking forward”) began working with
its first cohort of kindergarteners in 2005. As Delgado, Bernal, and Alemán write, “Adelante is premised on the simple, yet radical belief (for some) that all young people, including young people of color, should be expected and prepared to enroll and succeed in college, and that college preparation must emphasize students’ intellectual development in relation to their racial and cultural identities and their communities.”

Adelante bridged divides so often erected in academia between research, teaching, and community engagement. Numerous articles, book chapters, conference presentations, and dissertations have emerged from the project, along with oral histories, dance performances, and other projects involving Jackson students. Adelante captures both the challenges and transformative possibilities of community-engaged scholarship — the potential to simultaneously impact individual lives, schools, communities, institutions of higher education, and broader fields of scholarship.

“Adelante was the clincher for me in terms of taking this job offer. I’d been a teacher for years in Texas, and I had seen the inequality. I thought it was amazing that we had a partnership with the U where students could take field trips and get a feel for college life. They could see a higher education institution as so familiar, that when they visited it wouldn’t be an ‘other,’ it would be part of their culture. It’s a special place, but it’s not unattainable.

“Adelante integrated the University into the school. It brought in mentors, college-age students who could be a kind of big sibling or friend they could look forward to seeing. It hosted talks with the parents about how to begin saving for college. When Jana Edward came in as principal she kept Adelante alive, fighting to make us a community center. I believe in the mission of Adelante. Our message is ‘You will go further. You are going to graduate from high school, and it doesn’t stop there.’ That spirit, that expectation is such an ingrained part of Jackson. It’s who we are.”

~ Jennifer Hair, 6th Grade Teacher at Jackson Elementary

2008 Accomplishments

• UNP receives the Diversity and Equity award from the U of U.
• The Harland Partnership Center is awarded the Refugee Services Award from the Department of Workforce Services Office of Refugee Services.
• UNP Hartland Partnership Center receives the Outstanding Practicum Field Agency Award from the U of U's College of Social Work.
• UNP receives the NeighborWorks Salt Lake Award for Contributions and Leadership in Building and Strengthening Communities.
• Field study along the Thailand-Myanmar (Burma) border.
• Caitlin Cahill, Mathew Bradley, and David Quijada receive the 2008-2009 UNP Community Scholars in Residence Award.
• Clif Uckerman and Mestizo Institute for Culture and Arts receive UNP's 2008 Bridge Builder awards.

---

2008-2009: Joan & Hal Wolf Partner with UNP to Award the First Wolf & Meritus Scholarships

Featured below are just 6 of the 43 individuals who have received these scholarships over the years.

Danielle Martinez

Political Science and International Studies Student at the U of U. Received the 2015 Meritus VI Scholarship.

“I want to do an internship. So, I’m working with the Hinkley Institute. We’re trying to get me to Washington D.C. [through] the Woodrow Wilson Center to do research, because I also want to go to graduate school. [The internship will be] research based, specifically in Latin American politics.

---

Maria Barajas

Parttime Student at Salt Lake Community College. Received the 2013 Meritus I Scholarship.

“This scholarship is a really good opportunity because it motivates people and kind of pushes them, like ‘here you have some help, you can pursue something else.’ It’s not like you have to stay where you were and be stuck.”

Maria is currently working with Montessori students at Rose Park Elementary.

---

Clarissa Avila

Bachelors of Education, May 2017, U of U. Received the 2013 Meritus III Scholarship.

“I want to do something in my community. I want to get to know my families. [At] Backman we go on home visits. We meet our families and we talk to them about their goals and dreams for their children and what they can do to help them get there.”

Clarissa is now a 5th Grade Special Educator at Backman Elementary.

---

Jasmine Montoya

Parttime Student at Salt Lake Community College. Received the 2016 Meritus III Scholarship

“I think I’d like to be a therapist or counselor because I like to talk to kids and get to know their story. Then if they have problems at home they can come to me and talk it out. I would help them with behavioral issues, or even work with kids in special education.”

Jasmine is currently working with students at Glendale Middle School.

---

Melissa Manzano

Social Work Student at Salt Lake Community College. Received the 2015 Wolf Scholarship.

“My first major was nursing and I knew that I liked helping people. I guess once I figured the whole nursing thing out I decided I don’t like helping people in that way. I like helping people more in community environments, just like UNP’s community-based work. So, I like doing more of that and having one-on-one interactions with people.”

---

Cristian Cortes

Business Student at the U of U. Received the 2016 Wolf Scholarship.

“[These scholarships] are an investment in other people’s lives - people that maybe have troubles in their lives. So, investing in them and giving them the opportunity to obtain a higher education than maybe what their parents did is just a great feeling. I’m grateful for the scholarship, because without it I don’t know if I would have been able to come to the U.”

---

“We are both children of immigrant parents who, despite limited access to formal education, valued education highly and made it an important priority for their children. The opportunities we have had to pursue higher education influenced the course of our lives and the lives of our sons. This scholarship program was begun in grateful acknowledgment of the passion for education instilled in us.” ~Joan Wolf

---

2009: The New American Academic Network Launches

The New American Academic Network (NAAN) was established in the fall of 2009 to assist foreign-trained refugees and immigrants in obtaining the assessments, course work, and resources needed to return to school and/or advance their careers and integrate into professional employment.

In the summer of 2017, Farah Ali joined the partnership as its coordinator. A NAAN participant herself, she shares similar background experiences and goals with the other members and, consequently, is able to effectively act as a connector, guide and mentor.

“I would not be exaggerating when I say that NAAN changed my life! It changed my entire point of view, gave me the hope that being in the U.S. could be a great start for us, rather than the end.

“NAAN has taught me that there are dedicated people out there who care sincerely about helping others, especially those of refugee backgrounds who came to the U.S. looking for better life.

“If we [refugees/ immigrants] had peaceful, normal lives in our countries, we would not leave our memories, our families and our lives to start somewhere else from scratch.

“By giving us the chance to re-certify or pursue our higher education degrees, NAAN is helping educated people to get back on their feet and look for a brighter future.

“Since I joined NAAN, I have developed both academic and profession skills. I hold a Bachelors in Software Engineering, as well as a Higher National Diploma in Business Information Technology. I came to NAAN through a friend who is also a participant. She referred me because I had been extremely interested in pursuing a master’s degree. Luckily, I got an offer of working with this caring program as its coordinator. As such, I aim to build and develop coordination strategies that will impact the program and its participants. Working with NAAN has helped me understand the process of pursuing higher education. It has taught me the steps to take in order to reach my goals personally, as well as NAAN participants’ goals. My personal goal is to get into the David Eccles School of Business, get my MBA or Masters in Information Systems.

“NAAN has helped me and the other participants to connect opportunities at the University of Utah. Whether they are job opportunities or academic, we are linked directly to the U.”

~ Farah Ali

“The Center for Research on Migration & Refugee Integration (CRMRI) has been working with UNP and its NAAN program to develop connections for education and employment on the U of Utah campus for people of refugee backgrounds. Together, we have created a coordinator position to (1) identify opportunities at the U of Utah, (2) develop a database to track progress for participants in obtaining employment and/or applying and being accepted to university, and (3) reformatted NAAN meetings and discussions.”

~ Caren Frost, Center for Research on Migration & Refugee Integration

“One Refugee has worked with NAAN for the past 4.5 years. For years, NAAN has been working with a population (highly skilled and educated refugees and immigrants), that receives very little support. One Refugee began partnering with NAAN to help bridge the gap to employment, helping make connections to employers. Moving forward, NAAN will continue to refer individuals who are immediately seeking employment to the One Refugee program and NAAN will work with those who are immediately seeking graduate-level studies. Highly skilled and educated refugees are often over-looked in the workforce, despite their qualifications and ability to immediately contribute at a high level.”

~ Raymon Burton, One Refugee

2009 Accomplishments

• UNP Advisory Board co-chairs transition to Fred Esplin and Carolynn Hoskins.
• The Youth Book Exchange moves to Riley Elementary.
• Hartland Interdisciplinary Seminar (conducted by Trinh Mai, Yda Smith, and Gilberto Rejon) becomes a for-credit course, Immigration and Resettlement: Interdisciplinary & Community Perspectives, offered through the College of Social Work and the Division of Occupational Therapy at the U of U.
• UNP partners with the Salt Lake City School District to launch A Capital City Education initiative and the Community Learning Centers.
• The Hartland Resident Committee and the College of Social Work begin the Bridging the Cultural Gap Between Schools and Communities presentations and dialogues with local schools.
• Ruby Chacón receives the first UNP Community Resident in Action award.
• José Hernandez and Alonso Reyna receive UNP’s 2009 Bridge Builder awards.

---

2011: UNP Finalized the Purchase of a New Building to House the Hartland Partnership Center

An integral piece of the UNP Hartland Partnership Center is it’s Youth Center, providing afterschool care, social guidance, and academic tutoring. Many partners provide programming in the Youth Center. One of them is the U of U’s College of Fine Arts. For more than an decade Kelby McIntyre has been conducting theatre and dance education for youth in Hartland’s afterschool partnership. Below she shares the value of the experience for both the children involved and to the University.

“From time to time, my colleagues and friends outside of the arts education field will ask me, ‘How do you engage in this work?’ The answer is, ‘I do what a good majority of the youth at the Hartand Youth Center like to do; dance, tell stories, create, and share.’ Dance and theatre are simply the vehicles I utilize to promote dialogue, interest, empowerment, and at times change. I have found that reciprocal conversation allows youth, university students, and faculty opportunities to genuinely connect with each other via the creative process. They are able to understand, on a deeper level, the greater entity to which they are contributing, while at the same time being valued for the knowledge and expertise they are bringing to the collaborative work.

“From dancing at a community event to performing for government officials and departments at the University of Utah, the youth and I are constantly co-creating spoken word pieces, monologues, duologues, original scripts, and dances that are relevant and pertinent to them. This creative process has built trust and given them a platform to share their perspectives, thoughts, and feelings through performance art. As with any performance invitation, I ask the youth if it is something we would like to be part of. We discuss the purpose, the audience, the venue and the value of sharing our work in each space. With each collaborative performance piece that is created, the youth are provided opportunities to research a topic that they are passionate about as well as build upon and enhance their artistic strengths.

“Access and empowerment are central to the Theatre and Dance Education Program. They drive what I strive to achieve each week. Whether it is access to youth arts programs across Salt Lake City, higher education, or the expensive water park located across the street from the UNP Hartland Partnership Center, I want the youth to know that anything is possible and their voice, talents, and experiences are valued.

“In the spirit of being “cutting edge” or innovative, I find myself at a loss, but refreshed by the simple realization that the arts are a powerful force and incredibly essential to who we are as human beings, no matter where we come from. I appreciate the opportunity to share a snap shot of the community engaged work I am so honored to be part of.” ~ Kelby McIntyre, Assistant Dean, Arts Education, College of Fine Arts

Self-Identity Duologue written, devised, and created in the Hartland Theatre and Dance Education Program.

CHICANO by Bryant (10 years old) and Jonathan (7 years old)

Mixed, Biracial, Chicano, so many labels.
It is hard to know “what we are,” but our Dad calls us Chicano.
The urban dictionary says that Chicano is someone of Mexican descent where one or both parents were born in Mexico.
We are half-white, half Mexican.
For the longest time we didn’t know what a cucumber was, we knew it as pepino, we still call it that!
Dad tries to teach us Spanish, but it is hard.
Jonnie is lighter than me, but I don’t mind.
Mixed, Biracial, Chicano or something else. So we decided to make our own label…….
We call ourselves, AWESOME!

2010 - 2011 Accomplishments

• Glendale Youth Literacy & Leadership begins.
• UNP receives the Campus-Community Partnership for Health award.
• UNP publishes is first annual Community Voices magazine.
• Dr. Trinh Mai receives the 2010-2011 UNP Community Scholar in Residence award.
• Maria Barajas receives the 2010-2011 UNP Community Resident in Action award.
• Caitlin Cahill, Matt Bradley, and David Quijada receive UNP’s 2011 Bridge Builder awards.
• Dr. Mary Burbank receives the 2011-2012 UNP Community Scholar in Residence award.
• Elizabeth Montoya receives the 2011-2012 UNP Community Resident in Action award.
• Dr. Rachel Hayes-Harb receives the first Community Based Research Grant from the Vice President for Research and UNP, producing Determining Effective ESL Instruction Strategies for Pre-literate Adults for the English Skills Learning Center.