About

Promise South Salt Lake

Welcome to Promise South Salt Lake

Promise South Salt Lake is a department of the City of South Salt Lake that provides dynamic, highly specialized youth and community programming in 14 programs, at 12 locations throughout our City. It is our commitment to give all youth and families in our community the opportunity to succeed in life. Our programs are free, open to all, and emphasize equity, diversity and putting children first. Promise SSL serves anyone who lives, learns, works, plays, and prays in South Salt Lake. 

We provide safe, well rounded, data-driven programs guided by our three promises:

3 Promises for Promise SSL

For information about Promise South Salt Lake or other support, please email Promise SSL.

Children in front of playground equipment

“What I want for myself and my family, I want for every person in our community.” 

-- Mayor Cherie Wood

Why We Do It

The work of Promise South Salt Lake began in 2008 in response to the murder of a young girl, Hser Ner Moo, in a housing complex that serves a large resettlement of refugee families. This tragic event rallied the community to push for additional programs and services. Led by Mayor Cherie Wood and assisted through partnerships with the South Salt Lake Police Department, United Way of Salt Lake, Granite School District, and the city’s Recreation Department, they launched an afterschool program and community center, named after Hser Ner Moo. Promise South Salt Lake has now grown to become a holistic, community-wide initiative serving over 2,000 youth and their families each year.

How We Do It

Based on very specific research and the models of other successful communities, Mayor Wood and the Promise Team formulated goals that grew to become our 3 Promises— considering the work that is being done in other high achieving communities but formulated with our children, families, residents, and seniors in mind. We envision a partnership between our schools, our families, and communities working together to provide a safe, stable, and secure environment that promotes and models respect, positive self-esteem, academic achievement, and communication while appreciating and affirming individual differences and a commitment to helping all community members be life-long learners.