September 2026

This September 24, Coloring a Brighter Future will bring together art, community, and purpose at Willow Creek Country Club. And yesterday our Executive Director Kelsey Lewis joined Featured Artist Briar West and Kayla Norman, Community Engagement Manager at Cambia Health to talk about the event on Fox13.

Talented liquid artist Briar West returns as a Featured Artist at this year's event. This summer, she led a hands-on art workshop with our youth, turning creative expression into confidence. We couldn't be more thrilled to share her works, and the pieces youth created, at our event.

Joining Briar's work are pieces from over 50 other local artists.  And you don’t have to wait until September 24 for a first look! Preview the artwork that will be available for purchase and meet artists on our event page, and buy your tickets today! Don't miss this opportunity to support our resilient youth and celebrate our generous local artists.

Tickets are just $20 in advance, with prices increasing at the door. 

Thank you to our generous Masterpiece Sponsors Cambia Health Foundation and Operation Kids Foundation; to our Sketch Sponsors Scheels, WM of Utah, and First Utah Bank; and our Palette Sponsors America First Credit Union, Intermountain Health, and Mountain America Credit Union.

Building strong literacy skills takes practice, patience, and confidence. So sometimes, it’s simply more fun when you have someone learning alongside you.

Over the past year, Alan* and Daniel* have both made incredible progress in their reading skills. They started reading How to Train Your Dragon together, taking turns reading one paragraph at a time. After just a few pages, they naturally progressed to trading off entire pages without Will, their Friend, prompting them to do so!

Along the way, they helped each other work through difficult words, kept track of where they were in the story and held each other accountable to keep going.

This Literacy Month, we’re celebrating progress like theirs—and the many ways Friends create opportunities for youth to practice their skills, encourage one another and discover that learning can be a lot more fun when you don’t have to do it alone. *Youth names changed for privacy.

During National Literacy Month, we’re especially grateful to the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation for partnering with us to strengthen our literacy initiative. Their support helps us create more opportunities for youth to grow as readers, discover books that spark their interests and receive individualized encouragement from their Friends as they build critical literacy skills.

We’re also thankful for Yardi and their ongoing investment in Friends – Utah. Their continued support helps make our long-term professional mentoring program possible, giving youth consistent relationships, meaningful experiences and a Friend who will be there for the long haul.

Thank you to the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation and Yardi for investing in our youth and helping create brighter futures, one relationship—and one page—at a time.

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