Possible Ogden move (Salt Lake City, Logan, North Ogden: rental, daycare, townhomes)

[S'smom]

Hello,

My husband may be getting a job in Ogden (will know in the next couple of days). In the meantime, I have been searching for information about everything from Diversity, schools, non-LDS discrimination. I have to say that this board does a great job answering some of the questions. I do have a few more, that I could not find the answer to.

1. We are an African-American family from Texas, where is the best place for us to look for housing that is diverse as far as culture and being pretty safe? We are not interested in living with one race or another, we like variety. We would like to maybe lease a house at first, but I would like to have it in a good area with a good school. MY daughter is 7 and will be in the 3rd grade by the time we complete the move. She is currently in a private school in the Dallas area, and I feel that she is getting a great education, so I just want that to continue. We are ok with a public school if it comes to that, but I just want her in an environment that is not at all prejudice and treat her like an equal. She is at an age where she does not see color, culture religion, etc, and for that I am thankful . She is a friendly kid who is always up for something new and an adventure. I just dont want to her to have a bad experience, if we should make the move for how ever long.

2. Speaking of Schools, is there a dress code, and are the schools year round? I would prefer one that is not year round, and as far as the dress code, I am ok either way.

3. We are christian, and I have looked and I see that there are plenty of churches in the area that are christian. So that is good.

4. Because we are not Mormon, or LDS will that make our experience miserable? We are very open, so it does not matter to us what religion anyone is. Of course, when I mention Utah, I get the same negative reaction. So that scares me a bit.

5. I have a 1 year old son, whom I will be caring for full-time. I have always worked, and I love my job as a school librarian, but I am not sure if it will work for me in a different state. So we have talked about it and would feel more comfortable for our little one for him to stay home with me (at least for a while). I will work from home (I teach online), so that wont be an issue. Are there any mommy groups that are formed in and around the city so that he and I can get out of the house for more than shopping?

Any help would be great! I hope that I didnt ask too many questions .

[osugirl2]

We just moved to Ogden from Oklahoma in September and we are really enjoying it. We live in some townhomes that are in a historic district of the city. I found it on KSL.com. There are tons of rental listings from both individuals and companies there. We are renting from an individual and have had a great experience so far. Ogden is really a diverse area. My neighbors to the south are from the Marshall Islands, My neighbor to the north is an older gentelmen in his 50's. On down there are two younger air force guys and to the west are a couple of families with young children, a japaneese couple and a hispanic couple. Pretty good in terms of diversity I think. I love our neighborhood. I am going to the neighborhood potluck at the community art center tomorrow and that is something I've never had the opportunity to do anywhere before. The Megaplex theater is just a few blocks away from me, as is all the business/entertainment district in Ogden. Last weekend the city had a christmas parade and then afterwards had a fireworks display and officially turned on the lights to the christmas village downtown. It was so much fun to go to and even better I was able to walk to it My son is 3 and attends daycare at a christian private daycare in Ogden. They also have a private school for grades K-8 and a preschool. DM me for more info if you're interested. I have not had any bad encounters with anyone who is LDS. Our landlord is LDS and he's great. We even talked to him about some experiences my boyfriend has had up north in Logan as the new general manager of a restaurant and not being LDS. They haven't been horrible experiences, but somewhat discouraging (for the record, things appear to be getting better). He was a straight shooter about the culture shock some go through when they move here, and commented on some of the bad things that do happen between members and non members sometimes, which is why he personally likes the diversity of Ogden. Moving to any new area is a challenge. I lived in Oklahoma my whole life until now, and I badly miss my family and friends, and some things have been a struggle, but overall we feel we made a great decision on where we chose to move. It you need any advice just let me know!

[CCSLC]

I'm sorry I can't answer your questions specifically as I'm not that familiar with schools or mommy groups in Ogden, but I do think you'll really enjoy the city. It can be very charming and is quite diverse ethnically and racially---second only to Salt Lake City. As far as religion goes, the Ogden area is as diverse Salt Lake, Park City, and Moab---all of which are LDS minority. There are pockets of LDS majority, such as North Ogden, but even there I doubt you'll feel discriminated against.
Best of luck!

[S'smom]

Thank you so much OSUGirl2 and Zionide . The information that you have given is priceless. It has started to make me ease my fears a bit. I am not one for change, but I guess I will have to roll with the punches. The only thing is that if the job comes through, he will have to move pretty quickly so the KLS.com that OSUGirl told us about will help alot.

Thanks again . If anyone else has more information, that will be welcomed.

[kjdevries]

My family and I moved to Ogden from West Michingan in August. I am African American and my husband is caucasion. We have two boys 20 and 14. I have been a stay at home mom for 20 years and my husband works at a nutraceutical co. in Ogden.
We bought a home on the east bench, which is a safe area. Ogden is a diverse community as a whole, but the east bench neighborhoods are not. The city itself is made up mostly of whites and latinos and you see enough African Americans so you don't feel like your the only one. We have not experienced any discrimination, everyone has been friendly. Our neighborhood is made up of all different types of families such as retirees, young families with children, couples and mid stage of life.
The downtown is well on its way to being revitalized. There are shops, restaurants and entertainment venues. There's also a move to refurbish homes immediately surrounding the downtown area. We have mass transportation, the train will take you south as far as SLC stopping at cities inbetween.
We enrolled our son, who is in the 8th grade, in Ogden Middle School, he refused to return after the first day. We come from a small town in Michigan, so this is a big city to us. I think he was intimidated by the size of the school. We then enrolled him in the charter school which is located in the downtown area. That didn't go so well either, I am now homeschooling him. There are neighborhood elementary schools here. I haven't had any experience with them so, I can't speak to their reputation. There's also a private school downtown(to sure of their affiliation), a Catholic elementary and high school and other religious affiliated elementary schools. The public middle school and the charter school both have dress codes. Baically no ripped jeans and shirts have to collared. The schools are not year round.
My husband has had more contact with LDS members than I have and he says they're are just like everyone else for the most part. In all religions you have many types of personalities and it's the same with the LDS. We haven't had anyone try to convert us. So, I don't think your experience will be miserable.
I don't know of any mommy groups, but I haven't seeked out any because of the age of my kids. There are many parks here and I do see groups of moms with toddlers. In my search for homeschool groups I have found none in Ogden. There are many south of here that are mostly LDS affiliated.
We too got a lot of negative reaction from friends and family when we told everyone we were moving here. I had my reservations too, because I thought it would be a little backwards here and the whole LDS thing. I admit I had a lot of ignorant thoughts about Utah. It's not that way at all. It's much more diverse than I thought and there are lots of things to do, mostly if you like nature and skiing. SLC is a good size city with museums, theatre, shopping, etc. and it's very clean .

Hope the info. helps in your decision. Good Luck.

[S'smom]

kjdevries,

Thank you so much . This has helped to ease my fears as well. I have used the website that osugirl2 suggested, and it really does give me a good idea as to what is out there for rent.

Staying home full-time scares me, I cant lie, but I think that it will be a much needed break for me. I have taught and been a school librarian for so long that I wont know what to do with myself, having more than the summers off.

That is good to hear about the dress code and the fact that the schools are not year round. I work in Dallas, and here they wear uniforms. Of course, my daughter wears them because of the school she is enrolled in, but even that will be a welcomed surprise for her to be able to wear "normal" little girl clothes in a public school. I am so sorry to hear about your son's experiences with his schools. It sounds like a good decision was made to home school him. I can only hope that my daughter is able to adapt. She is pretty good about getting to know other kids and is always excited to do new things, but we will have to see how that goes. Of course, I will have my 1 year old at home with me, so the park, and other places to go will be good for him, even without the mommy groups.

Yes, those comments by my family is hard mostly because I know that they want us to stay, but what can you do? . Yes, we like the outdoors, and all of that other stuff. One selling point that my husband made was that it was only 10 hours by car to Disneyland. LOL. We are true Disney fans in every sense of the word, so that kind of put it into perspective for me (Believe it or not). LOL.

I am so glad that I found this forum to help calm my fears a bit.

[S'smom]

Oh yea one more question.....

What are the names of the grocery stores there? Strange question, I know

[kaytidid]

LOL...we have Albertsons, Macey's, Smiths, Reams, Harmons, Winco, Walmart and Target Supercenters, uh....anything else, guys??

[S'smom]

Cool, all of the ones I know and love . LOL
I am probably the biggest Albertson, Walmat and Target Fan!! They see me weekly. LOL

Thanks so much!

[osugirl2]

There is a Stop and Shop in Ogden, and a Sacco's produce which has produce pretty cheap (I love it!). There is at least one other grocery store in Ogden, but I can't think of the name of it