Living Color Awards: Recognizing those making Utah more diverse and inclusive

SALT LAKE CITY — More than 20 Utahns were recognized for their efforts to make Utah a more diverse and inclusive place to live, work and play.

This year's Living Color Awards, sponsored by Living Color Utah and Utah Business magazine, honored people across community involvement, corporations, education, government, inspirational leaders and nonprofits. The recipients range from cultural ensembles, community workers, local and state lawmakers, activists and the only Black CEO of a Utah tech unicorn — a term referring to companies that reach a $1 billion valuation without being listed on the stock market. A full list of award recipients is available at Utah Business.

Living Color Utah founder James Jackson said the awards are meant to highlight people doing the work to make Utah more inclusive. He hopes the Living Color Gala, which honors the award recipients, will also facilitate additional conversations and partnerships around diversity and inclusion throughout the state.

"Utah struggles as far as attracting and retaining talent — diverse talent, in particular," said Jackson, who also founded the Utah Black Chamber. "Just within the Black community alone, we've seen the population becomes stagnant as far as numbers, but we're seeing a lot of new faces. We just have a revolving door. Utah has a lot of work to do as far as becoming a more welcoming and inclusive state."

The Living Color Awards also include the Cameron Williams Award. The award recognizes one individual whose work is continuing the legacy of Cameron Williams, a civic leader whose work included chairing the Utah County Black Chamber of Commerce. Williams died from a brain tumor last June. He was 33.

"Through his span here in Utah — just a short eight years — he definitely made a mark as far as making Utah a more welcoming place," Jackson said of Williams. "Whenever you talked about diversity and inclusion, Cameron was there. (He was) on many boards and committees, and he was very vocal about how Utah can become better and he did the work. He didn't just talk about it; he did the work."

This year's recipient of the Cameron Williams Award is Betty Sawyer, executive director for Project Success Coalition. The nonprofit began as a response to drug arrests and use in Ogden's inner city. Project Success began in 1989 with one of the first after-school programs in Ogden. Today it offers a variety of services, including a community learning center, tobacco prevention programs, health access and awareness initiatives, a Juneteenth festival and career development.

When asked what diversity and inclusion efforts she'd like to see in Utah, Sawyer told Utah Business that she hopes efforts are measurable cultural shifts rather than performative and conversational.

"This level of work requires real financial investments, accountability, and transparency. With these investments, they/we can come together annually to celebrate real, measurable and sustainable change," Sawyer said.

Awardees will be honored at the fourth annual Living Color Gala on Friday from 5 to 8:30 p.m. It's accompanied by a silent auction from Thursday to Saturday. The proceeds go to Living Color Utah, which is a collation of diverse business organizations, namely: Utah Black Chamber, Utah LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce, Pacific Islander Chamber of Commerce, Utah Asian Chamber of Commerce, Utah Muslim Civic League, the Suazo Business Center and Young Professionals of Salt Lake City.

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