Making a difference for our community begins with having a clear understanding of the challenges facing families, neighborhoods, schools and the broader community. United Way of Salt Lake (UWSL) plays an important role in researching and communicating these challenges to the broader public so that together we can work to improve lives and strengthen communities. In our 2004 Community Assessment, independent research identified 17 priority problems facing our community - challenges ranging from domestic violence to transportation and lack of access to affordable housing and health care. Underlying these priority needs, our research identified four "core issues" that contribute significantly to these "downstream" problems - insufficient income, people lacking life skills, inadequate child supervision, and barriers to education.

From this strong foundation, United Way of Salt Lake works collaboratively with 81 community partners, operating 164 high quality programs and five community level initiatives working to address the underlying causes of our communities' most pressing problems. Together, this tremendous collaborative effort is making an impact by working to strengthen financial stability, build life skills, strengthen child and youth development and remove barriers to education.

To stay on top of the changing conditions and needs in our communities, UWSL is beginning the process of updating our 2004 Community Assessment. Independent researchers will conduct their study of the next several months, and will expand our focus to include Davis County. The findings will be presented at our 2007 Report to the Community in April, and will be used to guide both our funding priorities and our community change initiatives during the next three years.

Every Utahn can be an important member of the United Way team. We hope you will join us in both the effort to accurately assess the needs of our community, and to address them in ways that get to the root of the problem. There are many ways to become engaged in this important work - visit our "Making an Impact" weblog to share your thoughts about the needs in our community, and www.uw.org to explore the many ways to become involved.