By Julie Johansen
The first meeting of Emery County Coalition’s A Bolder Way Forward was held on Monday evening at the Emery County administration building in Castle Dale. The welcome and introduction of attendees was given by Patsy Stoddard. She also introduced the virtual participants.
A presentation online was given by Dr. Susan Madsen, the founder of the Utah Coalition. She emphasized that Utah women are not thriving in critical areas. She also pointed out the high level of domestic violence in Utah. The goal is to have change by 2030 with a check point in 2026. They have bold goals in each of their emphasis areas as they aim to shift from outputs to outcomes.
The highlights from a 2023 gathering of 20 leaders in Emery County were then discussed. Their feeling was that Emery County girls and women face challenges unique to the area in which they live. The areas were outlined in education, home and family, health and wellbeing, business and economics, and culture and community engagement. Attendees were then asked which area they would like to focus on.
Deborah Lin from Utah State also spoke to the group. She spoke of working together with other communities or counties to move forward as a system (networked leadership).
