Helping Utah’s women and girls thrive
Morgan County coalition - pictured May 2024.
It Takes a Village or in Utah’s case, a lot of villages, and Morgan County is showing up for the challenge.
While Utah is an amazing place to live for many reasons, national and statewide research continues to conclude that women and girls in Utah are not thriving in critical areas. Year after year, Utah consistently ranks among the worst in areas of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, gender-based discrimination, and women's key positions in politics and business.
Along with many noteworthy organizations, the Utah Women & Leadership Project (UWLP) is working to make a positive difference. And while we are making slight changes in a few areas, progress is slow. According to the Utah State University’s UWLP website, at its current trajectory, notable progress could take up to four decades. And nobody would agree that the rate of change could be acceptable for the women and girls of our state.
UWLP created a Bolder Way Forward as a way to gain momentum with County Coalitions as part of its framework. “Grassroots efforts will always be the best way to create long-term social change and it starts by raising awareness in our communities,” said Chris Hayes, local Morgan County resident and Co-lead for the Morgan County Coalition (MCC) for UWLP Bolder Way Forward. “My goal is to make sure that my neighbors and other Morgan County families know we have a problem and just how bad the problem is, but also that we can be part of the solution.”
On May 21, 2024, MCC held its first ever Think Tank participated by almost two dozen local Morgan community members including the Morgan City Mayor, Steve Gale, and Morgan County Commissioner, Blaine Fackrell. The Think Tank was led by special guest and founder and director of UWLP, Dr. Susan Madsen. Madsen is considered one of the top global thought leaders on the topic of women and leadership and shares a passion for facilitating opportunities for women to thrive.
Madsen started the conversation by providing an overview of the problems we are seeing in Utah, including some very sobering statistics, along with an introduction to why UWLP Bolder Way Forward and our County Coalitions are so important to creating change. “The intent of the Think Tank was not to just talk to people, but to get those people brainstorming how we, in Morgan County, can make a difference – right here in our own community,” said Chris Hayes. The two-hour session went fast ending with four groups of participants tasked with brainstorming ideas for what community leaders and residents in Morgan can do to strengthen the impact of girls and women in our area. The feedback was amazing with many of the four groups were in synch with what we can do here in Morgan right away.
The Morgan County Coalition intends to continue paving the way for real change here in our community and is seeking volunteers to help with the initiative. “We welcome any person, male or female, that has a passion around this topic,” said Hayes. Please, if you’d like to get involved, reach out to Chris personally at [email protected]. λ
