Civic Leadership Conference

Hosted by the University of Utah's Bennion Center and Salt Lake Community College's Thayne Center, the annual Civic Leadership Conference explores community leaders' diverse pathways towards social change.

In enjoyed attending the Civic Leadership Conference with my cohort. Civic engagement was defined as “a contribution to the common good.” This directly applies to my work as an ally in the Deaf community. I hope to support and contribute to the common good of the Deaf community as I participate in activities to improve conditions to help shape the community’s future.

My favorite part of the conference was when Kilo Zamora shared this quote, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” I’ve heard my dad recite this quote many times. Haha! Good intentions are worthless unless they are followed up on. If we fail to act on our good intentions, we may end up somewhere we didn’t intend to be.

I also loved the social aspect of the conference. Eating lunch with our cohort, meeting new people, and gaining insights and new ideas from others. I enjoy connecting with others and working toward the common good.

One thing I learned at the conference that I hadn’t thought about before was when the keynote speaker, Kilo Zamora talked about engaging in the community in a more powerful way by asking the community what THEY want. Don’t go to a community event with all the answers in on how to serve them. Remember the community knows what they need. The person in front doesn’t have all the answers, only the person at the side or in the middle can tell you what is really going on. It’s important to work WITH our community partners instead of doing what we think is best for them.

I also loved the thoughts about civic engagement being restful. Sometimes when we serve in the community it feels like life is sucked out of you. And our community partners may feel the same way. Kilo reminded us to be the kind of person our community partners want to see instead of the person they dread to see.