Thought Piece: 2024 Impact Report

By: Ze Min Xiao, President & CEO

At The Center for Economic Opportunity and Belonging (the Center), we believe belonging is the foundation of thriving communities. In the past year, we have made incredible progress toward building a community where more Utahns can contribute and benefit from Utah’s prosperity.

In 2024, the Center strengthened its commitment to creating actionable strategies to expand economic prosperity and success in K-12 education. We deepened our relationship with our partners, elevated community voices, and released new research—collectively, we are seeing the impacts of our efforts.

I am also very proud of the Center’s work toward building belonging, which we characterized as both aspirational and pragmatic: a north star that helps us declare the kind of communities we want to live in and a framework that provides the foundation to work individually and collectively toward a society where everyone is valued and thrives. The Center is responding to the needs in our community by prioritizing bridging as essential to belonging. This journey has pushed all of us to learn how to listen and respond to others despite clear differences.

To achieve our mission of ensuring all Utahans can thrive and belong requires constant commitment, innovation, and collaboration—a journey we are dedicated to continuing with our partners. Thank you for joining us on this path toward building a bigger and better collective “WE.”

With gratitude,

Ze Min Xiao

Download the 2024 Impact Report here.