Project FIRST: Families, Intercollegiate Collaboration, and Routes to Studying Teaching

Rapid demographic shifts have been particularly dramatic in Salt Lake City (SLC), Utah, where an increase of 117% in its minority population occurred between 1990 and 2000 (Perlich, 2002). Currently, one in three new SLC west side residents is a member of a minority community and more than 60% of residents are people of color compared to only 16% of SLC’s total population (Perlich, 2002). Salt Lake’s demographic shifts are particularly dramatic within the school-aged population where 53% of students are identifi ed as non-majority (Salt Lake City School District, 2008).