Spotlight: Katie Donoviel

The Center for Economic Opportunity and Belonging (CEOB) is excited to continue this Spotlight series where we sit down with organizations to talk about their work and their belonging journey in Utah.  

We recently sat down and spoke with Katie Donoviel about building belonging in Utah and her work at the English Skills Learning Center.

In two to three sentences can you explain what you do? 

The English Skills Learning Center (ESLC) is focused on breaking language and cultural barriers in order to create integrated and stronger communities. We believe that happens through two-way mutual integration. We have opportunities for adult English language learners and welcoming community members to participate in our programming. In my position, I am responsible for being the face of the organization, raising funds, and ensuring that we have high-quality programming.

What does belonging mean to you?

I think belonging is mainly a feeling. It's a sense of safety and security when you can show up as your authentic self. When we're able to break down all the walls and break down all of the worries about people judging, we create more feelings of belonging. It's when we can let all of that anxiety go and still feel safe and welcomed, that’s belonging.

Can you share with us a bit of your story of finding belonging/ or your continued journey of finding belonging in Utah? 

 I think finding belonging is a continued journey. There are some ways that we prohibit ourselves from feeling a sense of belonging. Maybe there are spaces where I do belong, but I don't feel like I belong, then I might put up those walls internally. That's something I'm doing to myself. But, it can also be external. So, I might feel like I belong, but other people's actions or words might make me feel like I don't. Belonging is not a destination, it's an active process in every area, in every day, and every space that you're in. It's both an internal and external process.

Going back to what you do, how do you think belonging fits into what you do/ and or your organization does?

Belonging is a living, breathing part of what we're trying to do through creating integrated communities, which we believe are stronger communities. We believe that integration happens with everyone in mind. For example, if there is a community that exists and one new person comes into that community, that's now a new community. Now, everybody involved, including the newcomer and the people who were already established, has a responsibility to create a new community that includes everyone. We ultimately are trying to make it a space where everybody feels valued and celebrated.

What are some things you believe we need to do as Utahns to make our state a place where everyone belongs? Or what is something someone did that helped you feel like you belong in Utah?

Utah has a culture of perfectionism that is really harmful. People often want to show up as being perfect or wanting to look perfect. Utahns want to present as the perfect family with the perfect finances. I think some of this is driven by social media, and I think it is also deeply embedded in the way that we live in our state. This idea of being perfect doesn’t align with true belonging. Belonging is showing up as your true self, whatever that may be, in whatever space that is, and feeling like you are meant to be there and like you're safe to be there. I think this is twofold. Like I was saying in the beginning, it's an internal and an external feeling. I think we have to break down some views of what we see as perfectionism and let that go. 

Showing up as your true self can be hard in different spaces, but that's the internal work that we have to do. Then the external work is asking yourself, “How can I make sure that others around me can show up as their authentic selves and also feel safe and supported being their true selves?”  Utah also has a tendency to live in bubbles. I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say, “Utah isn't diverse at all” or that “we have no diversity.” In reality, people might not be in the right area or exploring different spaces to experience the diversity we do have. We have to get out of our bubbles and into new spaces so that we can understand what showing up as our authentic self feels like, and what inviting other people to show up as their authentic self means. Otherwise, we live in this echo chamber where we're not getting to truly practice or experience the internal or external components of belonging.

How can people get involved?

The English Skills Learning Center, like many other nonprofits, is experiencing funding challenges right now.  The best way for people to get involved is to invest in the work, and that might be with time, with donations, or whatever a contribution might  look like for them. We have a lot of opportunities to volunteer and teach. We always tell people that no teaching experience or a second or third language is required for that. We use English as the main language in the classroom, and we do a lot of training to get people comfortable working in the classroom. If volunteering or donating isn't in someone's wheelhouse at the moment, going back to what our core mission is, is really that mutual integration and striving to build stronger communities. I think at a minimum, what people can do to support the ESLC's mission is getting out of their bubbles, talking to somebody new, and being open-minded to humanizing their neighbors. You can get to our website at eslcenter.org.