URBAN Utah is the newest node of the national Urban Research-Based Action Network (URBAN). Founded in 2010, URBAN seeks to forge relationships between academics and community-based practitioners, break down silos among academic disciplines and issue areas, and create mechanisms to support community-engaged scholars at all steps of their careers. URBAN’s work is rooted in critical approaches to community-based research and a commitment to advancing movements for justice and liberation. URBAN has held a series of national convenings and spawned a family of geographic- and discipline-based nodes across the US.

URBAN Utah grew out of conversations among faculty, students, and community partners at the University of Utah in 2017. In the wake of the Trump presidency, participants saw a need for stronger collaboration among among activist scholars, organizers, and community leaders. We hoped to better leverage the resources of higher education, and the tools of academic research, in support of local community and social movement organizing. URBAN UT is the result.

Through a process of listening and dialogue, we developed a shared mission and set of priorities for our work together. While initially launched in Salt Lake City, our network has begun to grow statewide through virtual and in-person activities. University Neighborhood Partners and the Bennion Center at the University of Utah serve as backbone organizations for the network.