Message to Stakeholders

Message to Stakeholders:

     During 2010, NeighborWorks® Salt Lake (NWSL) embarked on a number of different projects and opportunities to help our community following a period of high unemployment, financial crises, and home foreclosures which many of our residents and local businesses faced. We collaborated with different entities to assist in battling these challenges.

An important partnership established this year is with Murray City Corporation in opening a satellite office in their historic district. We will be offering our Homeownership Services with plans to expand and offer other lines of business over the next 24 to 36 months. Murray City neighborhoods face different challenges than Salt Lake City's west side, and we are in the process of working with stakeholders there to identify and prioritize these challenges.

Our partnership with Ally Bank provided $15,000,000 in capital which our Board of Directors used to establish the Affordable Housing & Mission Investment (AHMI) fund. This fund offers low-interest loans to Rocky Mountain NeighborWorks® Organizations (NWO) and to local Salt Lake City entities to help achieve their mission. This expanded our ability as a Community Development Financial Institution and financial intermediary to serve the region and support additional community development.

We maintained focus on developing community leadership through the Westside Leadership Institute (WLI) and graduated 25 students which increased our alumni pool to 144 residents. Our partnership with the University of Utah brought WLI to another level. WLI is currently being offered as a non-matriculated three credit course, which provides residents the opportunity to pursue higher education at the University of Utah. WLI also integrated University students from the Honors College Think Tank to learn side-by-side with west side residents.

YouthWorks™ engaged 43 young people in community building; bringing to more than 1800 the number of youth served since 1982. Many of our youth graduates continue to be contributing members to the community and have been recognized for their accomplishments through scholarships and community awards.

Major victories were experienced for Salt Lake City's west side neighborhoods with the approval of the North Temple Special Assessment Area. This means improved infrastructures, new street lighting systems, and beautification projects. We have completed the second phase of the Bridge Over Barriers art project completing 16 pillars of mosaic under the 300 North overpass of I-15. We anticipate completion of the underpass with mural installation on the embankments during Phase 3 in 2011. The Jordan River received special attention by the Board of Directors during a canoe trip to experience firsthand the beauty in the middle of our neighborhoods. We expect more attention being drawn to the River as the newly established Jordan River commission starts focusing on revitalizing parts of the river in need of attention.

We continue to celebrate the successes of the community. More than 13,000 residents were engaged through different community events/fairs/meetings and we received more than $260,000 of in-kind donations. Both staff and board were recognized for various accomplishments. John Haymond, an employee of Medallion bank, long-time volunteer and former board president was awarded the 2010 NeighborWorks® Business Award by NeighborWorks® America.

We wish to express our appreciation to the many funders, who despite the economic challenges, continue to support our efforts through financial contributions and volunteer services and to NeighborWorks® America for continuing to provide grants and training which builds our capacity to better serve our community. Finally, many successes can only be attributed to the leadership on our Board of Directors; staff commitment; hundreds of volunteers and the many partnerships that help us accomplish our mission.

Thank you for your support and helping us make a difference!

 Sincerely,

Maria Garciaz
Executive Director

Veronica Montoya
Board President