Monthly Newsletter - April 2024 |
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Executive Director's Corner |
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The weather is finally improving, which makes this a great month to get outside and experience some of the nature that's made Utah famous.
Did you know that throughout MAG's three-county footprint, each municipality and county maintain an average of 100 miles of paved trails? Murdock Canal Trail, the Provo River Parkway Trail, and the College Connector Trail are just a few of the great options we have for getting out and exploring. Or if you prefer pedaling instead of walking, take a look at the upcoming Golden Spoke bike event article at the end of this newsletter.
You can learn more about Active Transportation options, future plans, and the positive impacts of Active Transportation by visiting our website at https://mountainland.org/at/.
Thanks for giving our monthly newsletter a read, and please let us know if we can add any of your colleagues or friends to our distribution list!
-Michelle Carroll, MPA
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Utah Elder Justice Conference a Success |
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On April 25 MAG chaired the Utah Elder Justice Conference, a conference dedicated to elder abuse prevention. Held virtually and in watch parties all over the state, the conference taught caregivers, professionals and seniors how fostering connections is the key to prevention. Emily Allen, Senior Vice President of Programs at AARP Foundation, gave the keynote address on The Impact of Social Isolation and Loneliness on Older Adults.
The conference was brought to the state by Utah Association of Area Agencies of Aging (u4a) of which MAG is a member. MAG, along with these other agencies, are the "on-the-ground" organizations charged with helping older adults live with independence and dignity in their homes and communities. To learn more about elder abuse resources, visit https://utahelderjustice.org/resources or
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Meals on Wheels Needs Volunteers Like You! |
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Meals on Wheels volunteers are the lifeblood of our senior nutrition program. We rely heavily on our dedicated volunteers who deliver more than 65% of our meal deliveries to seniors. These volunteers not only help us cut down on costs but also provide essential companionship to our seniors, many of whom have limited human interaction otherwise. One volunteer summed it up, “ The seniors I deliver to are bright, happy, and grateful. I consider them my friends. Some give me treats and some show me new rock music I’ve never heard of from the 60's. Some just care about me and like to know how life is going. Grateful for the experiences I've had.”
With more seniors waiting to join our program, we need your help. Whether you can spare an hour a week or a few hours a month, there's a volunteer opportunity for you. Join us in delivering smiles and making connections at mountainland.org/volunteer.
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MAG's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) team recently had the opportunity to attend the official ribbon cutting ceremony for Lehi's new Curtis Center, a beautiful new center for adults with disabilities. We began our relationship with the Curtis Center a year ago through their programming nonprofit, the Holbrook Center, when they applied for the Lehi CDBG grant for the first time. Since then, we have had the opportunity to work with Michelle Holbrook to administer $30,000 in CDBG funding for supplies for their program. The paperwork and detailed documentation that CDBG requires can be a handful, especially for a new subrecipient, but Michelle and Stef from the Holbrook Center have been wonderful partners in this process. It was gratifying to see the brand new center for the first time, and to recognize that all our work to administer CDBG has transcended the realm of email and made it into the real world!
The new center is the product of a decades-long relationship between Michelle Holbrook and Lehi City, and is a testament to her dedication to providing quality programming for disabled adults who have aged out of the public school system. She has driven home to us the reality that almost all resources for disabled people disappear once they reach a certain age. At that point, isolation, lack of purpose, and a heavy burden on parents and caretakers can make life very difficult. It was wonderful to see the large group of participants sing songs for us and to witness the rare community that disabled people of all ages are able to find at the Curtis Center.
The Curtis center is named named for Michelle's disabled son, who catalyzed her passion for special education and finding solutions for this underserved group.
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MAG Analytics Group Recognized |
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The MAG Analytics group received an award at the national GIS-T (Geospatial Information Systems for Transportation) Symposium in Atlanta. Matthew Silski, Senior GIS Analyst, presented MAG’s Community Profiles viewer at the conference and accepted the Honorable Mention / 2nd Place award for the Savvy Web Mapping Application in Information & Data Analysis.
We appreciate the national recognition for our mapping work. Visit maps.mountainland.org to view other great maps we’ve created to inform our member communities.
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First-Ever Healthy Communities Roadshow |
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MAG, along with partners including Get Healthy Utah and The Utah Foundation, are planning the first-ever Healthy Communities Roadshow. The Roadshow will be a series of events hosted throughout Utah during the Spring of 2024, intended to provide local policymakers and staff with health-minded policy solutions, resources, and tools to make a lasting difference. The first of these events was held April 23. The next Healthy Communities Roadshow for Summit and Wasatch Counties is Thursday, May 2nd 12:00 pm-2:00 pm at the Blair Education Center, Intermountain Park City Hospital (900 Round Valley Dr, Park City, UT 84060)
Building healthy communities improves the quality of life of Utahns. Recently, the Utah Foundation released a Healthy Communities Series that consists of three policy guides for improving healthy eating and active living across the state. These guides align with the Healthy Utah Community Designation program, run by Get Healthy Utah and the Utah League of Cities and Towns. The designation outlines strategies to support healthy eating, active living, and mental wellbeing on a municipal level, and rewards communities for their efforts to improve community health.
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A coalition of partners including the Utah Department of Transportation; Wasatch Front Regional Council; Mountainland Association of Governments; the Jordan River Commission; Utah Transit Authority; Bike Utah; Davis, Salt Lake, Utah, and Weber counties, and numerous cities are organizing the event. They invite you to join this year’s group bike ride and family-friendly event for people of all ages and abilities, to explore and discover the Golden Spoke trail network.
Two rides (50 miles) will start simultaneously in Ogden and Provo, and converge at Tracy Aviary’s Jordan River Nature Center in South Salt Lake, where an End of Ride Event will take place from 11 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Additional shorter rides will begin in Farmington and Lehi (25 miles), and Millcreek (10 miles). There will also be short 3 and 6 mile loop rides to the Redwood Nature Area or Decker Lake in West Valley City, that begin and end at the Nature Center.
If you would like to participate, please register here.
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For questions, concerns, or comments contact Johnathon Knapton, MAG Communications Manager, at jknapton@magutah.org or (801)229-3836 |
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