Update on Community Belonging Fund, Six Months In

The Community Belonging Fund was launched by Park City Community Foundation in January 2025 to support local families facing urgent needs due to immigration-related concerns. Since its inception five months ago, we’ve established a steering committee, co-hosted multiple Know Your Rights events, coordinated a local immigration coalition, and granted a total of $63,500 to three organizations. Grant recipients include Wasatch Immigration Project, Summit County Clubhouse, and St. Mary’s Church. Funds are being used for legal support and guidance, community education, and hardship relief.

Along with grantmaking, we are having discussions with key stakeholders, partners, and talking directly to community members. In February and March, we created a survey and asked our Youth United families to respond. Sixty-three people responded, and here is what we learned:

• Top three challenges that respondents are facing: Fear of deportation, payment of rent and bills, lack of work/little work.
• 86% of respondents are very worried or somewhat worried about running into ICE agents.
• 68% of respondents said they, or someone they know, have been impacted directly by immigration laws.
• 52% say they don’t feel comfortable participating in public events.
• Recent immigration news has affected the respondents’ ability to: attend public events (60%), leave the house to do errands or go shopping (47%), go to work (32%), sign up kids for programs (27%), send kids to school (24%), seek medical attention (21%).

“Imagine being fearful to leave your house, go to work, or send your kids to school in your own community,” said Diego Zegarra, Vice President of Impact at Park City Community Foundation. “We’re grateful to be able to mobilize these funds in a short amount of time since launching the Community Belonging Fund, but it’s clear that we have a long road ahead to make sure our community members feel safe.”

During an update meeting on May 7, Maggie AbuHaidar, CEO and Founder of Wasatch Immigration Project, shared what her team has been up to and what they are seeing. With the funds from the Community Belonging Fund, they have been able to hire a full-time attorney with plans to expand their staff further. “We’re grateful to have the Community Foundation’s agile support in this ever-shifting landscape – our team is now more able to meet the community’s needs.”

A massive thank you to our Community Belonging Fund donors – your support is already directly impacting local families. If you would like to learn more and donate to the fund, visit our webpage>>