REPORT TO THE COMMUNITY COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT 2022-2023
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WE AR E YO UR CO M M UN IT Y As Salt Lake Community College enters our 75th year, we welcome the opportunity to pause and reflect on how much has changed since we first opened our doors in 1948. Starting as a small vocational school that first year with 246 students and 16 courses, we’ve grown into a college that serves more than 45,000 students each year. Amid the changes, our belief in the power and possibility of connecting community and college remains essential to our character, how we view our responsibility to our students and community, and what we do as individuals and as an institution. In 2022-23 we reached out to our community, worked with our partners to address some of our most pressing challenges, and celebrated those who work hard to make the world a better place for individuals, families, and communities. At the same time, we strengthened internal resources and processes to better support robust engagement. We also just plain had fun with our neighbors on and off campus. This report offers a glimpse of the variety of the College’s engaged initiatives, programs, and projects, but it is only a small snapshot of what we do. We invite you to explore the resources listed at the end of the report to learn more about what the College is doing in and with our communities. We know that our success and our ability to contribute to the continued growth and thriving of Salt Lake’s communities are possible because of your counsel, support, and collaboration. We are grateful for your partnership and excited to see what we can accomplish together going forward. -Jen Seltzer Stitt Director, Community Relations
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Communit y Engagement at a Glance 3 ,811
103,634
PARTICIPANTS
TOTAL SERVICE HOURS
KNOW GREATER HEROES
47
ALTERNATIVE BREAKS
2,350
Students, Staff, Faculty
80
Service Hours
BRUIN PANTRY
12
5
Individuals Served
112
50
Graduates
15,000
112
Service Hours
Partners SLCC DAYS OF SERVICE
70
89
Students, Staff, Faculty
Plots
Students, Staff, Faculty
(Includes 3 ADA boxes)
ACADEMIC COMMUNITY ENGAGED LEARNING
3,338
Students
67
Faculty
Service Hours
THAYNE CENTER COMMUNITY PARTNERS
SLCC COMMUNITY GARDENS
80
605
Students
CIVICALLY ENGAGED SCHOLARS Students
Service Hours
COMMUNITY WORK STUDY & AMERICA READS
2,650
Staff and Student Leaders
2,500
Students, Staff, Faculty
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Community Partners
280
Service Hours
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT LEAVE
81,894
1,015
Service Hours
Service Hours
Environmental Impac t Salt Lake Community College strives to be an effective steward of our environment. We work with local and national partners to reduce our environmental footprint to benefit the well-being of our students, staff, and communities. SLCC has adopted energy-efficient technologies and sustainable practices across our campuses, from installing electric charging stations and solar arrays to increasing xeriscaping and providing all active students, faculty, and staff with free bus/transit passes. In 2022 Salt Lake Community College produced 936,980 pounds of trash. We recycled 761,938 pounds of materials over the same period of time, resulting in a 45% diversion rate.
761,938 TOTAL RECYCLED POUNDS IN 2022
Metal Scrap 120,012
Single Stream 30,260
Pallets 3,080
Concrete/Asphalt 49,720
Food Waste 18,230
Batteries 2,803
Cardboard 49,192
Electronics Scrap 10,093
Glass Mix 1,578
Paper Mix 45,064
Plastic Mix 4,749
Fluorescent 1,253
Green Waste 42,1500
Tires 3,200
Aluminum 1,114
Oil: 290
Cooking Oil: 474
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Total Gallons: 764
Department Letter
Supporting Engagement with Our Communities Salt Lake Community College encourages participation, partnership, and innovation through a series of grants for students, faculty, and staff. In 2022-23 SLCC awarded a total of $70,458 in internal grants to support staff, faculty, and student engagement. The Engaged Learning Office funded nine Community Engaged Learning Student Fund Proposals totaling $3,120. The Office of Community Relations distributed seven Community Engagement Grants totaling $33,850
Community Engagement Leave Partnering with our community is integral to Salt Lake Community College’s identity, mission, and culture. One way we demonstrate our commitment is by offering all full-time staff three days of paid community engagement. Paid leave enables staff to lend their voluntary service and share their expertise with organizations that seek to provide expanded opportunities and enrich our communities. In 2022-23, staff served more than 1,015 hours with local organizations.
Community Engagement Database In 2022, the Office of Community Relations began collecting data about community-engaged activities for all Salt Lake Community College faculty and staff. Data is self-reported. While it is still early in the collection process, the database will allow us to better understand where we are engaged can strengthen College-community partnerships. Early snapshots show the largest part of our work focused on issues related to civic engagement, community building, and education. We invite you to look at the database (located on the Community Relations website: www.slcc.edu/government-relations/community) and learn more about the connections between SLCC and the communities we serve.
The Engaged Learning Office awarded $33,488 in Study Away scholarships to support student participants traveling to four locations: Japan, Costa Rica, Louisiana (US), and India
Community Building Civic Engagement
Economic Development
Arts & Culture Education
Criminal/Legal
Environment
Animal Welfare Community Engagement Database Data
Accessibility Disability
Financial Literacy
Community Partner Campus Tours Community Partner Campus Tours connect community organizations and leaders to College personnel and resources that benefit the individuals they serve. During each tour, we take time to celebrate the strengths of our communities, discuss concerns, and explore ways we can improve partnerships through continued dialogue and new collaborations. In 2022-23, we held 6 tours on 3 campuses with 36 community partners.
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Partnerships Salt Lake Community College partnerships result in innovative efforts that inform, educate, lift, and transform our students, the College, and our communities. Through community engaged teaching, learning, research, and outreach initiatives, Salt Lake Community College has changed and been changed by our communities for the better.
“On the Menu” In 2022, SLCC’s West Valley Center and the SLCC Dream Center partnered with Comunidades Unidas, the Mexican Consulate of Salt Lake, and other organizations from across Salt Lake County to host a discussion series called “On the Menu: Highlighting UndocuNarratives”. The events were designed to build community and a sense of belonging through food and dialogue for those who are part of the undocumented community. Each event offered access to resources and included narratives by undocumented community members meant to inspire, empower, and uplift current and prospective undocumented SLCC students and community members. Events also featured culturally authentic cuisines provided by vendors local to West Valley City and Salt Lake County. More than 100 community members, faculty, staff, and students participated in the events.
SLCC Serves Beginning in 2021, we celebrated the first post-pandemic full-year of SLCC Serves Days of Service. Six years ago, the Thayne Center for Student Life, Leadership & Community Engagement launched the College’s first Day of Service, an event that brought faculty, staff, and students together in service of our communities. In the intervening years, the program has grown to include two large Days of Service as well as monthly service projects with community organizations across Salt Lake Valley. In 2022-23, SLCC faculty, staff, and students volunteered with organizations including Best Friends Animal Society, TreeUtah, Green Urban Lunchbox, the Children’s Center of Utah, The Road Home, Esperanza Elementary, Wasatch Community Gardens, and Bristol Hospice.
Engaging Communities: West Valley Center In 2021-2023, SLCC developed a framework for engaging communities that allows us to adapt to the evolving needs and goals of college and community while supporting the long-term sustainability of our partnerships. The adopted framework provides guiding principles, strategies, and approaches for institutional and individualized engagement founded on reciprocity, sustainability, and collaboration. In Spring 2023, SLCC completed a two-year initiative to create and implement a new engagement framework that allows us to adapt to the evolving goals of the College and community while supporting the long-term sustainability of our partnerships.. Based on the committee’s recommendations, SLCC strengthened our commitment to West Valley City and surrounding communities with long-term investments in infrastructure, staff, and programming. Notably, this includes the inception of SLCC West Valley Center for Community Knowledge, a space for mutual learning that benefits our students and community, expanded K-10 school programming, and participation in community events.
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Department Letter
Great Salt Lake 2020 Images courtesy of Adam Dastrup
The Great Salt Lake Collaborative
The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere. The lake and its wetlands provide a home to over 400 species. As water withdrawals and other pressures lower water levels, there is concern that the lake will soon be too salty to sustain the current ecosystem.
public regarding the crisis around the Great Salt Lake, which affects all Utahns. Story maps created by Salt Lake Community College Professor of Geosciences Adam Dastrup have helped scientists and journalists understand what has already taken place and how continued loss of water will affect the lake’s ecosystem and Utah’s future.
SLCC is part of The Great Salt Lake Collaborative, a group of 23 news, education, and media organizations that work to better inform and engage the public about the crisis facing the Great Salt Lake and what can be done to make a difference before it is too late. The Collaborative’s efforts of rigorous journalism, innovative storytelling, and unique community outreach focused on how agencies and community members are responding to the challenges facing the lake. These efforts raised awareness among the
As part of the Collaborative’s effort to use storytelling as a way to explain how the Great Salt Lake is not only part of the ecosystem of Salt Lake but also essential to our identity, the SLCC Community Writing Center led a call for submissions and curated, designed, and published the Great Salt Lake anthology, “Consecrate/ Desecrate”.
Great Salt Lake 1984 Images courtesy of Adam Dastrup
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SLCC 2023 Presidential Community Engagement Award Winners Spotlight Engaged Faculty and Engaged Student Each year, the College recognizes the work of outstanding faculty, staff, students, and community partners through the competitive SLCC Presidential Community Engagement awards. The Thayne Center for Student Life, Leadership & Community Engagement coordinates the awards and welcomes recipients on stage during their annual end-of-the-year celebration of leadership and community engagement.
Spotlight: Engaged Student Beringo Wa Masumbe Netongo Beringo Wa Masumbe Netongo is an active member of the Black Student Union and SLCC’s Multicultural Student Council. Nominators celebrated her leadership skills and desire to engage and advocate for her fellow students. One nominator wrote, “As a Multicultural Council representative for the African, African American, and refugee students, she works to be a voice for students and help bring more diversity to campus. She has presented innovative ideas for projects that have had a significant impact on the community, especially for Black students.”
Spotlight: Engaged Faculty Daysi Hernandez Associate Professor Daysi Hernandez is a tireless advocate for our students and community. Since joining the College in 2014, she has devoted her time and talent to supporting our students and the communities we serve. Those who nominated her noted, “Daysi has gone above and beyond to serve the Latinx and Hispanic students at SLCC. Daysi works with the Dream Center and has done several multicultural events to benefit the Hispanic and Latinx communities. Last summer, she used her personal time to drive DACA (Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals) students that could not fly to national competitions, which helped make the competition equitable for undocumented students. She is committed to providing her students with the knowledge and resources needed to help them have a successful future.”
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SLCC Vision Salt Lake Community College will be a model for inclusive and transformative education, strengthening the communities we serve through the success of our students.
SLCC Mission Salt Lake Community College is your community college. We engage and support students in educational pathways leading to successful transfer and meaningful employment.
SLCC Values We don’t just state our values; we live them through dedicated, collective effort. Our values ground our future endeavors and help us realize our mission of being an open-access, comprehensive community college committed to the transfer education and workforce needs of our students. Collaboration
Innovation
Community
Integrity
Inclusivity
Trust
Learning
To stay connected to Salt Lake Community College and the Office of Community Relations, please sign up for our quarterly email newsletter, “SLCC Connections” using the qr code below.
If you have questions about this report or ideas to share, or if you would like your organization to join a community partner tour, please contact the Office of Community Relations by email at communityrelations@slcc.edu or call 801-957-4753
Community Relations
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