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what we do

"As the facilitator of partnerships between the U and community organizations, UNP helps to foster community pride, assist with educational opportunities, and empower families. The relationships created will have a lasting impact on our community, and help us realize that when we can pool our resources, we can do so much more. ”

Kay Cameron, Program Manager

Northwest Mult-Purpose Center

Salt Lake County Parks & Recreation Dept.


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Purpose:

For five years now, University Neighborhood Partners (UNP) has linked the University of Utah with seven ethnically and culturally rich Salt Lake City neighborhoods in ways that create pathways to higher education. UNP partnerships address barriers of race, ethnicity, religion, political viewpoints, and geography that can interrupt the journey to higher education. This mission involves actively developing campus-community partnerships focused on the following three critical areas:

Goals

• Increasing opportunities for youth education and success;

• Building the capacity of neighborhoods in the areas of health, housing, employment, business, safety, and the environment; and

• Creating initiatives to empower and expand community leadership.

 

Mission:

As UNP strives towards addressing these targets, a specific mission guides the resulting partnerships:

To bring together University and west side resources for reciprocal learning, action, and benefit…a community coming together.

UNP’s guiding principal ensures that both west side communities and the University benefit from the partnerships formed. Primarily, UNP ensures that the residents, faculty, students, and community agencies involved are engaged in mutually beneficial partnerships. Moreover, each endeavor must demonstrate the University of Utah’s commitment to playing a critical role in supporting the youth growing up in west Salt Lake to reach their potential and achieve a college education. UNP is dedicated to bringing people together in shared action and mutual respect to build a community infused with a multitude of cultural experiences and perspectives that ultimately enrich and reflect the changing demographics of both Salt Lake City and the state.
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West Salt Lake Benefits:

UNP uses an asset-based approach to community development, focusing on the existing strengths of all involved partners. Need-assessment by west side community members themselves guides all of UNP’s endeavors. With an office situated in the Glendale neighborhood, UNP provides a credible and sustainable presence for planning and implementing projects together with its neighbors. In turn, west Salt Lake neighborhoods transform when a greater number of residents become empowered with the educational skills the University offers.

U of U benefits:
 
All along, the University of Utah has recognized that institutions of higher education can and must take specific and tangible actions to assure college is an available option for everyone. At the same time, the University recognizes these unique partnerships create opportunities to tap into and create knowledge with groups historically excluded from institutions of higher education. Thus, UNP’s partnerships ultimately change the University in several ways. One way is by cultivating an increasingly diverse pool of students for the University’s student body, an asset that enriches the educational experience for all students. These efforts aim to develop an increasingly diverse pool of qualified students for the University's student body, an asset that enriches the educational experience for all students and will help the University to draw a more diverse faculty. In addition, UNP's partnership work expands traditional academic conceptions of knowledge and learning.

Article:UNP celebrates 3rd annual CommUnity Day

2007 Annual Report:

Download UNP's first annual report by clicking here: Annual Report 2007

 

Article: UNP celebrates 5th Anniversary Dinner

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1060 South 900 West SLC, UT 84104 801-972-3596
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