Six reasons to attend our Poverty Summit on August 29

Everyone is busy these days and there are always too many things you could be doing on Saturday morning.  If you live in Utah here are six reasons you should attend Crossroads Urban Center's Poverty Summit on August 29, 2026:

1. The summit will take place inside the Cathedral Church of St, Mark in downtown Salt Lake City.  The Cathedral is a historic and beautiful building that is worth visiting if you have not been there before.
2. The summit gives you a chance to meet other people who care about hunger and homelessness in Utah and are working together on solutions to those problems, 
3. The summit will include a discussion about how new work requirements for Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are impacting low income people in our state with officials from Utah's Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Workforce Services,
4. We will also have a discussion about what changes are being made to homeless services with representatives from the Utah Office of Homeless Services , Salt Lake County Mayor's Office and the Salt Lake City Mayor's Office, 
5. The Rev. Elizabeth Hunter from the Cathedral and Rev. Kelsie Parrish from First United Methodist and Centenary United Methodist Church will be presenting the ethical dimensions of how society treats low income and marginalized people, and
6. You can help us present Hellraiser Awards to:
   1. Jerry Schmidt for his work fighting to preserve a program that provides property tax relief for low income seniors , and,
   2. Deeda Seed for the work she has done in the past year to form a coalition to block the construction of a massive detention center for homeless people on wetlands in Salt Lake City.

The summit is free and open to everyone.  The full agenda can be found below

We hope to see you there!

TWENTY-FIRST PEOPLE'S SUMMIT ON POVERTY
sponsored by Crossroads Urban Center
 Saturday, August 29, 2026
 St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, Dean’s Hall, 231 E. 100 South, Salt Lake City 
 
 
I.      Registration (Coffee, Juice, Bagels, etc.)                                                                        8:30 AM 
 
 
II.    Introductions and Greeting:  Glenn Bailey, Crossroads Urban Center     9:00 AM 
 
 
III.     Speaker:  The Rev. Canon Libby Hunter, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church        9:10 AM          
 
 
IV.     Unraveling the Safety Net                                                                                                      9:25 AM
            Moderator:       Neil Rickard, Utahns Against Hunger
            Panelists:        Brigham Andrew, Utah Department of Health and Human Services
            Alexis Rodriguez, Utah Dept. of Workforce Services
             Bill Tibbitts, Crossroads Urban Center
 
                                    
                             Break*** Break *** Break *** Break *** Break                                         10:15 AM
 
 
V.        Speaker:  Rev. Kelsie Parrish,  First United Methodist Church                   10:25 AM
 
 
VI.      Fighting Homelessness in Utah                                                                                       10:40 AM       
             Moderator:        Brian Diggs, Family Promise Utah
              Panelists:       Tyler Clancy, Utah State Homeless Coordinator
              Andrew Johnston, Salt Lake City Director of  Homeless Policy and Outreach
               Katherine Fife, Salt Lake County Associate Mayor
 
 
VII.      Joe Duke-Rosati “Hellraiser” Award Presentation to                                         11:30 AM
                                    Jerry Schmidt and Deeda Seed
                                                            
 
VIII.    Announcements of Coming Events & Campaigns, etc.                                         11:50 AM
 
 
IX.       Lunch                                                                                                                                                       12:00 PM

​