COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS

At least 500 different partner groups have helped or continue to help build reciprocal relationships between the University and west Salt Lake neighborhoods over the past five years.

What is UNP’s role when community organizers want to become a partner?: UNP uses an asset-based approach to community development, focusing on the existing strengths and needs of the organizations already working in the community. It is dedicated to bringing community agencies and campus resources together in shared action and mutual respect. For example, when west Salt lake community councils came to UNP to ask for assistance in understanding the issue of participation in their council meetings, UNP responded by connecting with faculty from the University to partner with them to find ways to research and understand that issue.

What do community organizers say about UNP partnerships?:

Kelly Johnson, Neighborhood House Development Director
Partners in the Park is both an exemplary idea of community, with the added benefit of reciprocal learning. Neighborhood House and the University of Utah both enhance these festivities by showcasing our roles, responsibilities and prospects to bring higher education into the lives of our diverse community.  We look forward to teaching the University about us and our neighborhoods as much as we look forward to learning from the University about its neighborhoods and potential.

Michael S. Styles, Director of Black Affairs for Utah’s Office of Ethnic Affairs
University Neighborhood Partners was chosen as 2007’s MLK Drum Major award winner for a community based organization, because of what they do best, that is, empowering communities. UNP understands that “there is no greater tool of empowerment than education, making it the great equalizer, but for that to be successful, the stability of the home is essential in that process. UNP believes what Dr. King has believed all along—that it takes a village to raise a child.

Mary Lou Oland-Wong, Spanish language first grade teacher at Jackson Elementary
I appreciate the mentors for their enthusiasm and respect of the learning environment. They are very engaged and upbeat with the students. They understand that what we do at Jackson is rocket science and they are part of this science.

Kim Dahlquist, Spanish language kindergarten teacher at Jackson Elementary
It’s been really interesting to me to see how we begin the year and how we end the year and to see what the children have gained from the Adelante program. Many of us take for granted that going to the University was a part of our life plan. I always, I always knew from the point that I was a kid, that I was going to grow up, graduate from high school, and go to the University. But I don’t think that is the case with a lot of families nowadays, and I think that with Adelante now, University is becoming a part of their life plan.  And not only that, I think Adelante is giving them more meaning to the experiences that they are having in kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and later on in eighth grade and eleventh grade because everything that they are doing in each grade is preparing them for the University, which in tern is preparing them for life.

I think that just knowing that the University is a resource and just a part of our community is one of the great advantages in one of itself.  I was asking the children what they did on the weekend, he said we went to the University. Oh really?  What did you do?  Oh we just watched the students. And I just thought that it was great they were becoming more familiar of the University up there and as parents, and as the parents have come with this, they are beginning to ask more and more questions.  Because they are realizing first of all the University is a possibility for their children, and possibly for themselves, and also that it can be a resource during the time that they are preparing to attend the University.

The mentors, I think, are one of the greatest aspects of the Adelante program. My classroom is very attached to the mentors that visit my classroom. During centers, one of the kiddies asked “When are the ‘meliantes’ going to get here”’ I didn't know what she was talking about so I asked for clarification. “You know, the meliantes that come to read with us,”  Oh, ‘estudiantes’ (students)!   Because the Adelante students are sharing who they are and the skills and the knowledge that they have with the children, and the children who are aspiring to be like the mentors are learning so much from them. And it is so unique because the mentors are coming into our school environment and then we turn around and visit their school environment, and its been really exciting for the children as we go up to the University to see their faces again and realize wow this is where they go to school. The other nice thing too, is that the students that we have had mentor have had unique educational experiences as well. They have unique backgrounds, and it has been a beautiful relationship between the the mentors from the University and our students here at Jackson.”

When we were writing thank you notes to the Adelante’s mentors for all that they did, one child mentioned one in particular and said I am so glad that you were my mentor and I can’t wait till I am old enough to go to the University with you.  That was really special because it tells how important it is to have these University mentors here with them, my children really look up to them and they look forward to having that experience there.

I definitely think that we as teachers benefit from the partnership because the planning that we do is right in line with our core curriculum. At the kindergarten level, pretty much, we are giving them just kind of a general idea of the University, and introducing it to them. At the first grade and as we prepare to go into the second grade, this next year the experiences that they will have, the field trips, the visitors from the University, will actually be supporting the state core curriculum. So that is always a great help for the teachers. I also think that having the mentors is also an incredible help as our numbers here at Jackson get higher, and our money gets lower, we are finding we need more and more support inside the classroom.  So it has been really nice to have the students form the University there helping, not only creating a relationship with the children but helping them academically as well.”

I think parents are benefiting first of all in the same way that students are realizing that the University is a resource. On one of the occasions that we went to the University, one parent, this was her first visit to the University, as we walked into a particular building, she asked if that building was the University. And it was interesting for me to say all of these buildings around you together make up the University. And that began a number of questions, because that particular building that we were in, I believe was one of the science buildings, so she began to ask more and more about the different areas of study and what the possibilities were for her children.  I also think that the parents are becoming more and more involved in what is going on in the classroom as well. We have a high number of parents who attend the field trips, which is really incredible.  It shows that the parents care and that they want to know.  We have had parents actually ask if we can visit other areas of the University, if we can visit a chemistry lab, if we could visit, I think it was one of the parents that asked if we could visit the dance department. And so that has been really nice.  We are finding out what the parents interests are and they are able to seek out those researches through the University as well.

I think the community is benefiting from the partnership as Adelante continues. As we continue to strengthen the relationships here at the school and at the University we will be able to accomplish more, we will be able to accomplish more community type projects together and I think that is probably one of the goals that we should have in the future is to be able to really involve different members of the community as a part of the Adelante project, so that is not just a project between two schools, because these children are a part of a great community and that is eventually what we want. We want them to be able to grow up finish high school, go to the University, and then come back to this community and strengthen it with the new skills that they have obtained.

Victoria Mori, director of Guadalupe Schools
UNP’s efforts align with Guadalupe School’s in the area of education.  We believe that with the help of the community and partnering with our parents, we can encourage students and families to begin to dream and realized the importance of education in their future and the importance of staring early.

Maria Garciaz, executive director of NeighborWorks (formerly NHS)
Since the early 80s, NeighborWorks has served as a laboratory for the U of U, BYU and USU for service learning opportunities and research.  One year prior to the birth of UNP, I was interviewed by Irene Fisher and told her that NeighborWorks and the community was tired of serving as lab rats for universities because there were no reciprocal benefits for the Westside. University would gather data, publish reports but seldom were the reports or data shared with the community and NeighborWorks refrained and encouraged other groups to discontinue participating in studies until the University made a commitment to the west side by locating an office there.  Following Irene Fisher’s many interviews and final report, the U of U made a commitment to the west side by establishing the UNP office near Jordan Park.  Irene recognized the importance of engaging residents (similar to NeighborWork’s philosophy) in identifying what their needs are in the community and how the U of U could serve the community and how the residents could participate in the University. This resulted in the Community Ambassador program. 

One of NeighborWorks’ core values and strategies for building community is building resident leadership to sustain the long term health of neighborhoods. UNP was aware of NeighborWorks resident leadership training and asked if were interested in a partnership that would engage U of U professors in co-teaching with community partners. Following several meetings with UNP and many partners, the birth of WLI occurred.  I participated along with Irene Fisher as a co-instructor in the first class of the Westside Leadership Institute (WLI).

The WLI partnership has enabled NeighborWorks to formalize a resident leadership curriculum. The Center for Public Policy and Administration has been instrumental in revising the curriculum to be more neighborhood-based and applicable to Westside neighborhood issues. The curriculum has been a design build tool for both U of U CPPA and NeighborWorks. U of U has donated and volunteered many people hours to develop WLI.  NeighborWorks benefits from WLI by supporting our efforts to build resident leadership. The graduates from the program have a track record for becoming engaged in addressing community issues and concerns. In addition, many of the WLI are potential candidates for appointment to nonprofit boards and government advisory committees.

Residents benefit from WLI with the opportunity to participate in a quality leadership skill building opportunity at a very low cost. The training introduces residents to concepts that build their skill set at a personal level that helps strengthen their ability to respond to personal and community issues. Many residents have noted the skills they learn as participants in WLI have helped them with family issues. In addition, residents are introduced and exposed to the many opportunities offered by the U of U.

University faculty benefit from WLI by placing method and theory to practice at the grassroots level. Instructors have commented on this opportunity to teach to students and the students in the class are enthusiastic and excited about the U of U teaching them. It is an opportunity for faculty to identify ways to engage themselves or their students in service learning opportunities by learning from the residents they teach, what issues are important to them in the community and how to connect U students with WLI graduates to jointly address community issues. U of U benefits by expanding their sphere of influence to Salt Lake City’s Westside. Prior to the UNP office location in Jordan Park area, many residents felt the U of U was the Ivy tower, residents no longer feel the U is beyond their reach. I anticipate increased awareness and enrollment from Westside to the U or other learning institutions.

I want WLI participants to walk away feeling they have a skill set to talk about an issue and take on a leadership role, whether this means by attending a meeting they have never attended or being the individual that organizes the event. 

Campus/community partnerships are important in strengthening relationships both from the community level and the University level. I believe campus-community partnerships will take the Westside to the next level in terms of resident involvement, increased number of Westside grads from the U of U and becoming a direct feed for the U of U in service learning opportunities.  I believe when a University is actively involved in the neighborhoods, it strengthens the base of the University.

Marni Timmerman, Utah Federation for Youth
Utah Federation for Youth has been connected with Hartland for the past three years. I love so many things about working with the Hartland residents, I think firstly, I’m learning so much everyday and all of the residents are so generous. We have a really unique situation because since we’re right here on sight we get to know them in a really intimate level, we get to know their families, and be in their homes and eating with them and helping them when they need something.  So I would say it’s a pretty ideal place to be.

I think our staff is learning many things from the residents, mainly cultural awareness. We’ve learned how to adapt and learn about their cultures and their ways of doing things, theirs ways of treating their children and acting with their children and their ideas of education and religion and all of those things.

We typically have 2 or 3 social work students placed in the youth programs. They’ve been able to come and work with the kids, run groups with the kids and teach social skills. I think we offer them a really realistic view of what’s going on in these youth lives. We have the opportunity to hear first hand from them on a daily basis, the minute these kids come home from school they come and knock on the door because they want to get right in.

I think it’s really important that the University continues partnerships with community organizations, I think, firstly, because there are so many positive community organizations out there that are just unaware of things that are going on and sometimes it takes a bigger partner like the University to bring in that partnership. Once that happens, the organizations have so many tools and so many resources.