Utah Foundation performed the research for the Community Assessment released in April 2007 by the United Way of Salt Lake. This project involved four research phases:

• A survey of human service providers and other professionals to understand their views on how 17 priority social problems are affecting our communities.
• A review of quantitative data from federal and state agencies to illustrate the breadth and recent trends for each of the 17 problems.
• A review of academic studies showing a causal relationship between four core social issues and other problems.
• Focus groups with individuals most affected by these problems in the four-county region.

This Community Assessment finds significant challenges in income sufficiency, health care affordability, barriers to education, substance abuse, housing affordability, language and cultural barriers, mental health care, family breakdown, and other priority problems. The report highlights many areas of concern as none of the 17 priority problems appear to be improving.

The United Way of Salt Lake published a 46-page report based on Utah Foundation’s research findings, and Utah Foundation’s 227-page report to the United Way is also available, with greater detail on each of the issues and research phases.

Read this report:

United Way Published Report
Utah Foundation Report to United Way