African American Family possibly relocating to SLC from Northeast (Salt Lake City: daycare, house)

[Otonium]

We are a fairly normal/traditional African American family facing a possible relocation to Salt Lake City. My husband is gung-ho for the idea, but as the mother of two young sons, I have a few reservations.

My sons are both used to being the minority in their schools (my youngest is the only black kid in his daycare class, and my oldest is one of 4 black kids in his kindergarten class), but their world outside of school is fairly diverse. My biggest concern about Salt Lake City is the lack of racial diversity (black, latino, asian, the whole shebang) and how it might affect my kids. If I am totally honest, my concern is racism. My google searches have shown me nothing good, so before I create an issue that may not exist, or at least not to the extent I've been led to believe from my internet research, I want to get information from people who actually live there. As I said, my concern is not for myself, but for my kids.

Another concern for us is finding an African American, non-denominational church. Here at home we prefer a racially diverse church, but given the demographics of Salt Lake City, I think a predominantly African American church would suit our needs best. Any input on this would be appreciated as well.

I look forward to reading your responses!

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

While it is true that UT is predominantly White, there are African Americans visible in the community. There is one church near downtown that has a prominant place in the community and it's long time pastor, Rev. France Davis, is quite a leader in the religious community. http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/2010/04/presenter-profile-rev-france-davis.html (broken link)

I think you'll find less hostility than you might expect, given that the numbers are so small. IMO, you should stick to Salt Lake itself, as it is far more diverse than the suburbs. There are a number of various African refugees who have settled here. If you are interested in volunteering, you could help them adjust to life in the USA; and provide yourself with potential new friends.

Most people love the climate - while it gets hot, there is no humidity to speak of. Lots of opportunities for wrold-call outdoors recreation within 30 min. of the city. Come visit and see what you think!

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by Otonium

We are a fairly normal/traditional African American family facing a possible relocation to Salt Lake City. My husband is gung-ho for the idea, but as the mother of two young sons, I have a few reservations.

My sons are both used to being the minority in their schools (my youngest is the only black kid in his daycare class, and my oldest is one of 4 black kids in his kindergarten class), but their world outside of school is fairly diverse. My biggest concern about Salt Lake City is the lack of racial diversity (black, latino, asian, the whole shebang) and how it might affect my kids. If I am totally honest, my concern is racism. My google searches have shown me nothing good, so before I create an issue that may not exist, or at least not to the extent I've been led to believe from my internet research, I want to get information from people who actually live there. As I said, my concern is not for myself, but for my kids.

Another concern for us is finding an African American, non-denominational church. Here at home we prefer a racially diverse church, but given the demographics of Salt Lake City, I think a predominantly African American church would suit our needs best. Any input on this would be appreciated as well.

I look forward to reading your responses!

Hi, Otonium! Seriously, I think your kids would do fine here. My sister has an adopted mixed race (African American/Caucasian) son who has never had any real problems. (Yeah, there have been isolated incidents, but you're going to run into that everywhere.) There isn't a whole lot of racial diversity here, but the Hispanic population is fairly significant. I would say that, for the most part, people here almost bend over backwards to destroy the stereotype that Utahns (LDS Utahns, in particular) are racist.

[berger123]

I went to Ogden High and it was over 50% hispanic. We also were 6% black so while that isn't that much it's still enough to realize that utah does have an african american population. There are plenty of Baptist african american churches here your family should be fine.

[Les Hackmeister]

I agree with SouthernBellinUtah on everything, especially the recommendation to visit. Rev. France Davis is very well respected and I can give you some names of people to contact personally. Moderator cut: no advertising, readx the TOS

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by Otonium

We are a fairly normal/traditional African American family facing a possible relocation to Salt Lake City. My husband is gung-ho for the idea, but as the mother of two young sons, I have a few reservations.

My sons are both used to being the minority in their schools (my youngest is the only black kid in his daycare class, and my oldest is one of 4 black kids in his kindergarten class), but their world outside of school is fairly diverse. My biggest concern about Salt Lake City is the lack of racial diversity (black, latino, asian, the whole shebang) and how it might affect my kids. If I am totally honest, my concern is racism. My google searches have shown me nothing good, so before I create an issue that may not exist, or at least not to the extent I've been led to believe from my internet research, I want to get information from people who actually live there. As I said, my concern is not for myself, but for my kids.

Another concern for us is finding an African American, non-denominational church. Here at home we prefer a racially diverse church, but given the demographics of Salt Lake City, I think a predominantly African American church would suit our needs best. Any input on this would be appreciated as well.

I look forward to reading your responses!

There are more churches that worship out of the Black tradition in Utah than people realize. Many are in Salt Lake City and Ogden, as those two cities have had small, but noticeable Black communities for a while now.

Also, those two cities have their share of Black students in their schools. Some suburbs of SLC like West Valley City and some others have some as well. Cities like Clearfield, Layton and Kaysville have some too. I think college towns like Logan and Provo have a few too.

Check this out: Utah's black churches: God's house of joy - Salt Lake Tribune
Utah's African-American Voices
First Black Mayor in Utah History
FINLEY TEMPLE CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST - OGDEN,UT
Embry Chapel
New Zion Baptist Church
Emmanuel Church of God In Christ in Ogden, Utah. (ut.) #44334057
Calvary Baptist Church - Salt Lake City, Utah
New Pilgrim Baptist Church (http://www.newpilgrimbaptist.com/home.htm - broken link)
Ebenezer Church of God in Christ - Salt Lake City,UT

[ckhthankgod]

This should help give you an idea about the school demographics for some of the school districts there: Test Scores for Salt Lake District | GreatSchools
Test Scores for Granite School District | GreatSchools
Test Scores for Jordan School District | GreatSchools
Utah schools - UT elementary, middle and high school information

Test Scores for Davis School District | GreatSchools
Utah schools - UT elementary, middle and high school information

Test Scores for Ogden District | GreatSchools
Test Scores for Weber District | GreatSchools
Utah schools - UT elementary, middle and high school information

This site can help you see some numbers in terms of demographics as well: Search For Schools, Colleges and Libraries

This is another website: Utah Schools - Find a Public or Private Utah School - SchoolDigger.com

[Otonium]

Thank you so much for all of your feedback. Between what I have heard from you guys and what I have heard from others I have reached out to, I am much more comfortable about the possibility of relocating to Salt Lake City. Looking forward to it even.

[MrAnderson]

Well Salt Lake City proper is 21% hispanic. It's also about 5% black, which isn't a lot, but that's more typical for the west. 5% of 180,000 = 9,000.

[crency]

Hello, I wanted to put my two cents in. We are a thirty-something African-American family with two young sons who relocated to SLC from Washington, DC (chocolate city). We couldn't have made a better decision for our family. The peace of mind concerning the friendly people, schools and neighborhoods has been unbeliveable. We wanted better for our children, yeah everyone here may not look like them and we are going to work extremely hard to ensure they are constantly aware of who there heritage, but we've lived in environments where the majority of the population is black and that comes with a lot of issues (housing, poor services, medicore/underfunded schools, crime) that at this stage in the game with kids, we'd much rather not deal with. Good Luck with your decision