Representing a diverse group of organizations, more than 30 community leaders gathered for the first South Salt Lake Cares Key Leader Council meeting in August. 

The council will meet quarterly to refine its mission, outline a strategic approach to support the community and collaborate with the newly formed SSL Cares Community Council to lay the groundwork for addressing and targeting risk factors that hinder success for city residents.

“The key leaders are meant to provide more of a strategic bird’s-eye view. They will be used as a resource by the community council,” said SSL Cares Coalition Coordinator Chelsea Frost. “The community council is going to be in the trenches, boots on the ground. They’re the worker bees that are making stuff happen.”

The Key Leader Council is made up of representatives from organizations like Promise SSL, Granite School District, Westminster University, Salt Lake Community College, Odyssey House, SSL Police Department, International Rescue Committee, MOSIAC Inter-Faith Ministries, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Intermountain Children’s Health and The City Journals. 

Now that the SSL Cares Key Leader Council and Community Council have been formed, the next step is to identify risks in the community that workgroups can address. Key focus areas are substance misuse prevention, gang activity, physical health, early learning, social impact and after-school programs.

With a focus on evidence-based practices, the SSL Communities That Care program will research how those risks affect things like school absenteeism, low literacy rates, gang involvement and domestic violence. The goal is to build stronger communities by creating pathways to graduation, employment and beyond.

“I love the amount of work that happens in these coalitions because we all get in the same room, we’re all working on the same thing, but we’re coming from different sectors, so there is a lot of cross-pollination that can happen if we take advantage of this group,” Frost said. “The cool thing about South Salt Lake is that normally CTC coalitions are not this robust; they just don’t have this many people.”

Rev. Dr. Leslie Whited leads the Mosaic Inter-Faith Ministries of SSL. She volunteered to serve as an SSL Key Leader to help promote community in the area.

“Our values align with the city of South Salt Lake, and I felt like this was a way to collectively support the work of the city,” she said. “We are known as one of the most diverse organizations in the city and in Utah.”

Although there are several CTC groups in the state, each community is different and each council identifies specific needs for the residents in the area. Once quantitative data is collected about SSL by the Community Council and committees, leaders can develop a community profile and provide feedback to prioritize the target areas identified. 

“We’ll be looking at the elevated risk factors that are concerning to us and what the protective factors are that we might want to build up,” Frost said. “We want to know what it means for us specifically. That’s what we’re going to be focusing on this year.”