Education Pathways

Strategic Priority: Enhance opportunities for people to achieve their goals and contribute to community through diverse, equitable, culturally responsive, and transformative educational pathways.

Mutual Learning: Increase opportunities for postsecondary students and educators to collaborate with preK-12 students and educators in mutual learning, inspiration, and empowerment.

Family-School Collaboration: Strengthen the capacities of families and educational institutions to build trusting relationships with one another, and create opportunities for collaboration.

Decreasing Barriers to Education: Strengthen hubs and networks - in our neighborhoods and at the University - through which partners can collaboratively address the multi-level barriers people face to accessing educational opportunities.

Lifelong Education: Support education institutions and community groups in creating and connecting learning opportunities, through which individuals of all ages can define and further personal, professional, and community goals.

Key Indicator: Number of westside residents enrolling in and completing postsecondary education at the UofU and SLCC.

Community perspectives on housing and gentrifications

By Caitlin Cahill, Associate Adjunct Professor, Department of City & Metropolitan Planning, Parviz Faiz, CMP graduate student, Josh Rebollo, MPA graduate student, and Alex Stewart, MPA & CMP graduate student.

Over 100 people attended the “Community Perspectives on Housing & Gentrification” Open House in December at the Sorensen Community Campus Black Box Theater. On view were 14 community engagement projects developed by students in the Community Engagement in Planning graduate course to inform Housing SLC, Salt Lake City’s 5-year housing plan (in partnership with SLC’s Communities & Neighborhoods Department). In addition, community leaders were present to share information about the proposed expansion of I-15, which would widen the highway by 12 to 18 lanes, dramatically impacting west side communities in terms of displacement and worsening air pollution.

Students partnered with community organizations to reach out to neighbors on the west side and beyond, creating an opportunity to listen to concerns about displacement, neighborhood change, and to reimagine a more equitable urban future for Salt Lake City. Projects explored topics including redlining, homelessness, cultural displacement, community land trusts, and affordable housing. Here are a few brief reflections from students about what they learned from working with communities: Are you Listening? Glendale needs your attention!

In partnership with Elizabeth Montoya, a longtime Glendale neighborhood resident and coordinator of family programs for the SLC School District, students conducted a focus group in English and Spanish at the Glendale Mountain View Community Learning Center (CLC). Josh Rebollo reflects on what he learned from the experience:

"People who we spoke to love their community and want a sustainable future for themselves and their families, but issues like the cost of housing are making that dream difficult. Just as neighbors help and support each other in times of need, they want to feel that same support form their government. This experience helped me to understand how planners and all public servants must work harder to build relationships and maintain communication with the communities they serve, which means meeting people where they are, really listening, and being honest."

-Josh Rebollo, MPA graduate student

Leaving Home: A resource guide for youth experiencing housing instability” 

Using creative and artistic methods for engagement, students worked with homeless young people in partner-ship with Volunteers for America at the Homeless Youth Resource Center to document barriers to housing, resources, and stability for youth experiencing homelessness or housing instability.   

"As a planning student, I see community engagement as a form of community relationship building and trust building practice that exists in the context of historically oppressive institutional actions. Because of this, Planners cannot be careless or simplistic in their approaches. We have to recognize the labor contributions of our community partners in this process, including the emotional labor that can come from recounting past traumatic events or tapping into collectively experienced trauma. We must do our part to provide them with a resolution that properly compensates them for their work and authentically supports their visions."

- Alex Steward, MPA and CMP graduate student

West Side Tesoros: A community placekeeping project and digital map  

What places on the west side reflect our sense of belonging, culture, history, values, and future? In collaboration with NeighborWorks Salt Lake, students created a large scale  “treasure map” - “a mapa de nuestros tesoros” at the Mestizo Coffeehouse and a digital map that includes over 150 places that matter to community members on the west side. 

"Residential and cultural sustainability are particularly volatile on the Westside. UDOT's expansion of I-15 illustrates that sense of underrepresentation that residents feel in their community, regardless of their passion for the area. The project has already illustrated many significant landmarks in direct threat of demolition due to UDOT's proposed interstate expansion. Not only do these physical locations build the community identity, but the proximity of these locations to one another creates a social overlap, maintaining culture through interpersonal relationships between community members."

- Parviz Faiz, CMP graduate student

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The New American Academic Network

By Zinah Al Gburi, NAAN participant, Wisam Khudhair, Community Capacity Partnership Manager

The New American Academic Network (NAAN) is a service to connect individuals from immigrant and refugee backgrounds with higher education, creating pathways for them to return to school and employment in their chosen fields. Many new arriving populations resettle with education and training from their countries of origin. Through higher education institutions and community-based organization partners these students are able to recertify and continue their path towards higher education.

Zinah Al Gburi is a NAAN participant that arrived in Utah with her family in 2020. She is a Medical Laboratory Technician in her home county of Iraq. Zinah has been enrolled in the UHealth Pharmacy Technician Program through Professional Education at the University of Utah. She speaks on her experience to higher education.

“When I first moved to the United States of America, I felt hopeless that I lost my profession as a lab tech, and tried different jobs, but I couldn’t fit in. But with the help of the New American Academic Network, I was able to continue my dream in the medical field, and now I have experience in this program as a pharmacy technician. This program helped me to continue my career, and now I am working at St. Mark’s hospital. I am really grateful for what you did with me, and I hope you will continue doing that with other new refugees.”

Many refugees and immigrants that arrive in the United States with degrees, certificates and overall higher education from their countries are struggling to find a pathway to education due to the barriers they face within the higher ed system. Things like high cost, language acquisition, and professional credentials are difficult to maneuver while these students are still adjusting to their new environment. New American Academic Network partners are committed to increasing refugees’ and immigrant’s capacity to prosper through.