We have 2 great events next month!

• Early Learning Breakfast - May 4^th at Red Butte Gardens
• Spring Breakfast - May 18^th at The Grand America Hotel

See the following details for more information on how you can reserve your tickets!

Meet our panelists for the 2023 Early Learning Breakfast!

Janell Cerva

Chief Impact & Strategy Officer, Utah Community Action

Janell has worked in homeless services, affordable housing, corporate giving and social responsibility, community development, early childhood services, public education, philanthropy, social impact, and higher education.

Janell values the experience she's gained in the public, non-profit, and business sectors working with individuals and organizations that care about our community.

Benjamin G Gibbs Associate Professor, Brigham Young University

Ben obtained his PhD in Sociology from Ohio State. He examines the origins if inequality within the life course.

His current work explores (1) how grit and worry impact educational progress at young ages and (2) the changing relationship between skills (cognitive and noncognitive) and socioeconomic outcomes.

He occasionally consults with nonprofits and state agencies regarding poverty abatement.

Aimee Winder Newton Director of the Office of Families, Senior Advisor to Governor Cox

In her dual roles, Aimee looks at proactive, upstream policies to strengthen Utah families to improve outcomes for children and save taxpayer dollars in social services.

Aimee is a graduate of the University of Utah and also serves in a part-time elected position on the Salt Lake County Council. She and her husband, Matt, have been married for 30 years and have four grown children and an adorable golden doodle puppy.



Something you'd like to hear from one of our panelists at the event?

Psst 🤫 we have just a few tickets left! Join us for a delicious breakfast, networking, and a rousing panel discussion. Tickets include garden access, so plan time to wander and ponder!

Thursday May 4, 2023

9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

(with garden wandering after)

Red Butte Garden

Have you gotten your tickets yet for the 2023 Spring Breakfast?

Have you been thinking about snowpack and spring flooding? Do you have questions about the Great Salt Lake? Or about the role of farming in Utah’s water planning? Join us on May 18^th for a panel discussion to find answers to these and many other questions about the future of Water in Utah.

Have your own questions about water in Utah? We want the panel to answer them! Submit your own questions below.

Submit your questions for the panel here →

The panel:



• Teresa Wilhelmsen, State Engineer, Utah Division of Water Rights
• Timothy Hawkes, General Counsel, Great Salt Lake Brine Shrimp Cooperative, Inc.
• Tage Flint, Owner of Crescent F, L.L.C., and Former General Manager, Weber Basin Water Conservancy District
• Warren Peterson, Seasoned Water Attorney and Former V.P. of Farmland Reserve Inc.

The event moderator for the 2023 Spring Breakfast will be Theresa Foxley, Chief of Staff, rPlus Energies

Thursday, May 18, 2023

8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.

The Grand America Hotel

Interested in sponsoring this year's event? Contact Sarah Beck for sponsorship opportunities. 

Did you catch the second episode of the Your Utah, Your Future Podcast series on education?

If you haven’t already, now’s your chance to stream Part Two in our education series!

In this episode we're diving into one of the top challenges facing teachers and the teaching profession today: our state is suffering from a major teacher shortage.

And when it comes to the teacher shortage, the statistics are astounding:

• About 3,000 teachers leave the classroom every year while only 1,500 new teachers graduate college with a degree in education.
• Only about 59 % of new teachers have teaching degrees.
• 42% of new teachers leave the career within five years of starting, and 56% leave within eight. 

Hear from the experts as we talk about the hurdles teachers face in the classroom and the strategies we can use to stabilize and optimize the profession as outlined in the Vision for Teacher Excellence. These strategies will not only help combat the teacher shortage today, but ensure the profession continues to evolve and remain a valuable position in the future.

And when you're done with the podcast, be sure to check out our newly refreshed "Vision for Teacher Excellence" website to walk through the strategies →

In the news

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah does not participate in the annual ShakeOut earthquake drill in April. “Moffat explained the U has opted to hold its evacuation exercises in the summer semester to avoid disrupting finals, adding he believes it’s particularly important for Utahns and members of the U community to be prepared for an earthquake…” Envision Utah has shared statistics for the state’s probability of a big earthquake in the next 50 years.

KUER

Lehi, like many other cities throughout the state, are concerned about how high density housing will impact their communities, including traffic and services. "With housing prices continuing to rise, high-density projects can offer a way of accommodating growth and affordable housing."

Envision Utah's CEO, Ari Bruening was asked about his take on the growth, sharing, "The alternative isn't no growth, the alternative is growth somewhere else...How do you accommodate that in a way that retains quality of life for everybody?"

KUER

Our nation is seeing a rising trend of more and more high school graduates skipping college. However, Utah's higher education enrollment numbers say differently. "The Beehive State saw a best in the nation 3.6% increase in undergraduate enrollments during that time. Arizona and South Carolina were the only other states with increases." Envision Utah conducted a survey to see where our culture's priority higher education is placed. Participants expressed that the cost of post-secondary education was worth it.

For 25 years, Envision Utah has brought Utahns together to tackle some of the biggest challenges related to growth — and you have made that happen. But whether we’re talking about air quality, water use, transportation, education, disaster resilience, or a host of other issues, there’s more work to be done. When you support Envision Utah, you’re helping to create a bright future for our state.

Thank you for your support!