University Neighborhood Partners (UNP) has been selected as one of just 25 organizations nationwide to receive the Aspen Institute’s 2026 Weaver Award, following a highly competitive process that drew hundreds of applicants. The $225,000 award recognizes UNP’s national leadership in cultivating trust, belonging, and meaningful connection between the University of Utah and communities across Salt Lake County’s west side and beyond.
The Weaver Award honors organizations that strengthen social trust by centering relationships and community-led solutions. UNP was selected for its innovative, relationship-driven approach, one that bridges higher education, health systems, and grassroots organizations to ensure mutual benefit between communities and westside neighborhoods while improving access to opportunity, capacity building, and social trust.
For more than 75 years, the Aspen Institute has convened global leaders and local change-makers around some of the most pressing issues of our time, including social trust, economic opportunity, youth leadership, and civic engagement. Through the Weaver Award, Aspen affirms that social trust is built through everyday relationships, defining “weaving” as the ability to cultivate and reinforce vital connections essential to addressing complex social challenges together.
As a Weaver Award Community Host, UNP will distribute microgrants to 20 community-based organizations and individual leaders each year for the next three years, supporting those who are actively weaving connection and belonging in their neighborhoods. In addition to financial support, UNP will help amplify the work of local “weavers,” share their stories, and create opportunities for learning, collaboration, and collective impact, while strengthening their capacity to continue working towards their mission, goals, and objectives.
Through this partnership with the Aspen Institute, UNP aims to inspire renewed hope, deepen community engagement, and elevate community-led solutions, further defining what strong societal impact looks like when trust, relationships, and opportunity are placed at the center.