Newsletter October-December 2024

SLCC Day of Service

As part of Salt Lake Community College's SLCC Serves program, students, faculty, and staff partnered with Granite School District and spent a day packaging snack kits for K-12 schools. These kits help to alleviate hunger for hundreds of students facing food insecurity.

The program benefits both College and community. Thayne Center staff work with participating organizations to understand how we can best meet their needs. While serving, students are introduced to new organizations and the joy of community service, which they can continue at the College and throughout their lives. It also strengthens the important relationships between college employees, students, and community members.

The Thayne Center will hold two more SLCC Serves events in 2024. In October, SLCC Serves student volunteers will support Free Minds, a nonprofit that uses books, creative writing, and peer support to help incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youths. In November, staff, faculty, and students are invited to participate in the college-wide Fall Day of Service. Volunteers will work with New Roots SLC, Catholic Community Services, Neighborhood House, and the English Skills Learning Center.

For more information, please see the SLCC Serves website. Community organizations interested in learning more about how to partner with the Thayne Center can reach out to Savannah O'Sickey (sosickey@slcc.edu) and Anita Lui (anita.lui@slcc.edu).

Newsletter April-June 2024

SLCC, Junior Achievement Connect Kids to College

Junior Achievement of Utah’s challenge to our communities is to “believe in the possible”. Through lessons in financial literacy, work and career readiness, and entrepreneurship they introduce young people to a wide range of business, jobs, and the importance of education to their success. Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) is proud to partner with Junior Achievement and help our young people discover how to make their dreams possible.

Junior Achievement and SLCC partner on a variety of programs including in-class learning, interactive online programming, and hands-on role play at Junior Achievement’s JA City. Students engage starting in first grade with the concepts of business, economics, and how education is relevant to the workplace. The classroom activities prepare them for a capstone field trip to Junior Achievement Utah’s JA City.

At Junior Achievement’s JA City, students are part of a simulated town where they have jobs, attend college, manage finances, and vote for mayor. About 20,000 students visit JA City SLC every year. At the SLCC storefront, students can work for SLCC as president, faculty, or advisors. All students at JA City are invited to learn about SLCC’s programs, receive an SLCC “diploma,” and earn money for their JA City accounts.

“Our partnership helps students learn that college is not an abstract idea. Salt Lake Community College is accessible and an important part of achieving their personal and professional goals.” said SLCC Community Relations Director Jennifer Seltzer Stitt. “They learn that – whatever they want to be, from an entrepreneur to a nurse, SLCC will set them on the path to success.”

In addition to the storefront, SLCC staff, faculty, and students have a history of working with other Junior Achievement programs. For example, the Gail Miller School of Business at SLCC has a booth at the JA Inspire virtual career fair. A live chat is set up where students can ask questions about college and careers and are given an immediate response to their questions. About 10,000 students visit the virtual career fair each year. "The partnership between SLCC's Gail Miller School of Business and Junior Achievement is mutually beneficial. Junior Achievement has a strong focus on business and entrepreneurship. We want SLCC to be a resource for local schools and teachers, and the next step in the career path for JA students,” said Barbie Willett, Associate Dean Gail Miller School of Business.

Junior Achievement also works with volunteers from SLCC’s Thayne Center for Student Life and Leadership, and students from Community-Engaged Learning, giving students a chance to incorporate hands-on civic engagement experiences into their academic coursework. To learn more about Junior Achievement programs and how you can engage, please visit this link.

Refugee Technology Training Program

Basic digital literacy is increasingly essential to economic and civic participation, integration, and social connectedness. For refugees, technology isn't a solution to all the challenges of forced resettlement, but it does offer tools that will help them thrive in their new communities.

That is why, since 2015, SLCC's Workforce & Economic Development has partnered with the Department of Workforce Service, Refugee Service Office to offer free basic computer and technology and web development and design trainings to refugees in Salt Lake County.

Classes are held at the Utah Refugee Education and Training Center, a partnership between SLCC, Department of Workforce Services, and Utah State University located approximately two miles from SLCC's Westpointe Center. In addition to technology training, SLCC partnered in 2021 with the Refugee Services Office to provide short-term training programs in Phlebotomy and Warehouse/Distribution. SLCC has also offered medical device manufacturing and medical interpreter short-term occupational training programs at the Center. Many of these classes include an ESL component helping refugees learn job-specific English terminology while mastering in-demand skills.

Despite challenges posed by the pandemic in 2021, SLCC's Workforce & Economic Development department served 83 refugee students in basic computer and technology skills and has served 273 refugee students at the Center since the program's beginning.

The programs are making a big difference in the lives of our refugee students and their families. Short-term occupational training gives refugees the tools they need to obtain higher paying jobs quickly. For example, the Refugee Pre-Basic Technology course is taught in eight weeks. This training is designed to assist refugees in gaining valuable training to become familiar with using desktop computers and keyboards, the Windows 10 operating system. Students are introduced to basic computer components, typing practice, and Internet use, including email, job searching, and social media accounts.

Jesca Niyitegeka came to the U.S. from Burundi. She recalls when she moved to the U.S. and was looking for a job, "I had no computer skills until my friend introduced me to the Basic Tech Class at SLCC." She completed SLCC's six-month Basic Tech course and learned valuable skills such as typing, how to use email and instruction on utilizing the full Microsoft suite. "Typing was the most difficult part for me due to my hand disability. I enjoyed every single moment I spent in class and loved practicing each lesson," she recalled.

Jesca is proud of the job she has today and credits her time at SLCC as the reason she has been able to create a new life for herself in Utah. "I am thankful to Salt Lake Community College for giving me the opportunity to improve my computer skills," Jesca shared. "I appreciate the teachers for their patience and hard work in helping me in every way they could. The job that I am doing now involves computer skills and I have had no problem performing my job since taking the class." She encourages others to take courses at SLCC to help them improve their skills and abilities to build a better future for themselves and their families.

All courses are taught at the Utah Refugee Center, 150 North 1950 West, Salt Lake City. This training is offered at no cost to refugees who are Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) eligible. The eligibility process requires participation in an interview to assess English proficiency on an as needed basis. Students who complete the Pre-Basic course will be eligible to continue with the Basic Technology I and Basic Technology II courses (Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) beginning in 2022.

Refugee Leadership Training Program

On November 18, 2021, SLCC's Miller Business Resource Center (MBRC) celebrated 17 new adult graduates and 23 youth graduates of the Refugee Leadership Training program, a 40-hour training curriculum designed to teach and instill confidence in refugees from around the world to become leaders and spokespersons for their communities.

The SLCC Miller Business Center partners with the Department of Workforce Services Refugee Services Office and American Express to offer the program, designed to provide refugees an opportunity to develop their leadership skills, connect with community capacity building resources, and build community.

Topics are centered around three pillars—Government, Community and Family Leadership. Professional instructors and mentors teach on topics such as public speaking, assessing community needs, budgeting and finance, civic responsibility, and conflict resolution.

Youth leadership participants, ages 14-19, visit the Utah State Capitol and learned how to enact policy change and influence the legislative process in our state. They also take part in a ropes course at Camp K to learn to work with different people and overcome challenges and obstacles.

Upon completion, participants take part in a graduation ceremony where they are awarded a certificate of completion from Salt Lake Community College. Over 214 adults received a certificate since the program launched in 2010 and 101 young people graduated since the youth program was added in 2018.

More information on how to apply for the program can be found here.

HONRANDO EL MES DE LA HERENCIA LATINX – HISPANA

Cada año, Salt Lake Community College marca el Mes de Herencia LatinX con una serie de eventos diseñados para honrar y celebrar la historia, la resiliencia y las contribuciones de las culturas LatinX y del personal, la facultad, los estudiantes y de la comunidad Latinx. Este año le invitamos a que nos acompañe a estos eventos públicos y gratuitos que incluirán: comida, danza, artes visuales y conferencias que exploran la cultura y la identidad hispana.

Aunque continuamos celebrando el Mes de la Herencia Latinx, nos sentimos decepcionados por la decisión de la Corte de Apelaciones del Quinto Circuito de los Estados Unidos que dictaminó a principios de esta semana, que el programa de Acción Diferida para los Llegados en la Infancia (DACA) es inconstitucional. Queremos recordarle a nuestra comunidad que, a pesar de este resultado perjudicial, los estudiantes aún pueden buscar una educación superior en Utah y beneficiarse de varios recursos disponibles en SLCC y Salt Lake Technical College (SLTech). Consulte nuestra declaración completa acerca de la decisión aquí.

El tema de este año es ¡ARRIBA MI BANDERA: MÚSICA, CULTURA Y TRADICIÓN! Durante el Mes de la Herencia Hispana, nos reuniremos bajo las muchas banderas que representan una parte importante de la rica herencia, culturas e historias de inmigrantes que forman parte integral de nuestra identidad individual y de quiénes somos como universidad y comunidad.

Esta gran celebración incluirá eventos organizados por estudiantes, profesores, personal y grupos comunitarios, que incluyen:

22 de septiembre: On the Menu: Highlighting UndocuNarratives de 5:30 p.m. a 7:00 p.m. en West Valley Center (Abierta al público e incluye cena gratis).

La cena y discusión "En el menú" presenta oradores del Consulado de México quienes nos hablarán acerca de las celebraciones del Día de la Independencia de México y los servicios que el consulado brinda en el condado de Salt Lake.

29 de septiembre: Grupo Folklórico Nonatzín: El Camino a Nuestras Raíces de 6:00 p.m. a 7:30 p.m. en Taylorsville Redwood Campus (gratis y abierto al público).

Presentación del grupo Folklórico Nonatzín, que celebra la cultura mexicana a través de la danza folclórica tradicional.

Encuentre una lista completa de los eventos en la página del Mes de la Herencia Latinx de USC 2021.

Consulte la página con frecuencia para obtener la lista más actualizada de eventos.