April 2023 | Vol. 09 Iss. 04
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U OF U ORGANIZATION SEEKS TO EXPAND JOB AND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR WEST SIDE RESIDENTS By Darrell Kirby | d.kirby@mycityjournals.com
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ith University of Utah Health planning to build a new hospital in West Valley City, a university outreach program is stepping up efforts to provide more services and opportunities for people on the west side of the city. University Neighborhood Partners feels now is a good time to better engage West Valley City residents not only in shaping the new medical campus, but also the educational, training and job opportunities that will be created by the medical campus. UNP facilitates connections between the University of Utah and residents and community leaders of western West Valley City and Salt Lake City to determine what west side residents want in the way of education, job training, and employment opportunities and the means to provide those options. UNP got its start in 2001
when Irene Fisher, the founding director who died in February, was tasked by the president of the U with establishing a process to work with west side residents to increase access to higher education. Some residents and representatives of the area have long felt that the socio-economic factors sometimes associated with the west side result in a lack of attention to their needs. “We were created partly from a recognition by the university that the west side was very disconnected and had little access to the resources of the university as well as demands from the community that the university be more engaged with them,” said Paul Kuttner, associate director of UNP. The planned hospital is an With University of Utah Health planning a new hospital in West Valley City, the program aims to provide more services to the west side. additional catalyst for the current (Wikimedia Commons)
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