Beating the Odds: Post-Secondary Success for Adult, First-Generation and Lower-Income Students explores various means of promoting both student retention and completion of certificates and degrees. It focuses on subsets of students who have been less likely to attain higher levels of education and receive the benefits of that attainment. Among the findings of the new report: Utah’s population is changing. If the state’s post-secondary educational institutions do not respond to those changes, tens of thousands … Continued

Researchers often examine populations by looking closely at certain demographic characteristics to help understand such groups, which can then inform policy decisions. In 2020, a group of Hispanic civic, business and elected leaders approached Utah Foundation asking us to provide key data related to Utah’s Hispanic/Latino population. In addition, this project received support from the Utah Division of Multicultural Affairs. The metrics in El Estado de los Latinos en Utah: A Look at Utah’s Hispanic/Latino … Continued

Shortly after the start of the 2020 pandemic, Utah Foundation released a report, Work Away from Work: The Challenges and Promise of Teleworking, on remote work. It provided an overview of the potential benefits and pitfalls of the massive experiment in teleworking prompted by the pandemic. This report – Part II – focuses on how remote work relates to air quality in Utah, provides new insights gained during 2020, and looks toward the future interplay … Continued

In September 1945, Utah Foundation was born, motivated by the desire of business and civic leaders to confront the challenges of post-war demobilization. In 2020, Utah Foundation celebrated its 75-year anniversary, but perhaps fittingly also spent the year confronting the great economic, public health and social challenges the pandemic has visited upon Utah. The result was one of the most productive years in the organization’s storied history, with: 12 major reports Seven briefs 12 podcasts … Continued

Utah Foundation’s series on state and local incentives addresses the risks that can come with providing public financial benefits to select private parties. The series explores ways to minimize those risks. This third report of the series focuses on local incentives. This report relies on a survey that compares Utah’s cities and counties with their national counterparts. Utah Foundation supplemented the survey results with dozens of interviews with local governments. Cities and counties in Utah … Continued

Utah Foundation’s Utah Priorities Project survey revealed a new voter priority for 2020: politicians listening to voters. Utah voters complain that elected officials are paying too little attention to voters in favor of corporations, religious organizations, the well-connected or special interest groups. The fact that politicians listening to voters is top-of-mind for voters also encapsulates sentiments regarding legislative changes to ballot initiatives – given that all three ballot measures passed in 2018 were altered by … Continued