The Moab Valley Multicultural Center (MVMC) is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization serving all people in the Moab Valley community. Established over the early months of winter 2007, the Center was formed to facilitate multicultural exchange and communication, leading to acceptance, respect, celebration, understanding and appreciation of/for differences between cultures. The Center provides a space where Moab citizenry can have opportunities to learn about each other and share our cultural diversity. Further, our mission is to provide the minority, immigrant and underserved individuals and families in our community with outreach, education, advocacy, referrals to other agencies and services and language interpretation and translation services.

Some of our goals are as follows:

• To promote cultural awareness, appreciation, and interaction.
To these ends, we have established a varied program, including cultural events, youth educational outreach, field trips, and workshops. The Center works in partnership with other local non-profits, such as the Native American Club and “Cultural Connections”, to create opportunities for cultural exchange, awareness and celebration. Cinco de Mayo and July Fourth have been two of those opportunities in the past. In 2008, our collaborative efforts are geared toward a "Festival of Cultures" diversity celebration for the first week-end in May.

The MVMC also partners with the BEACON program at the Grand County School District to provide after-school tutoring for children in grades K – 8. In partnership with the Title VII program and the Native American Club, high school students have a tutor club on Thursday evenings.

• To aid the integration and adaptation of immigrants and minorities into American society.
One of our first tasks was to undertake a "needs assessment" of services being provided in the Moab area in order to discover whose needs were the least served. As a result, our first focus has been to assist the Hispanic population, for whom language and culture are major barriers to accessing local help. No cultural or ethnic group is excluded, but our aim is to find those with the greatest unmet needs. In addition to interpretation and translation services, the Center holds English Language Learner (ELL) classes twice a week.

• To reach an underserved population not reached by traditional health and other social services due to language barriers, lack of understanding, lack of financial resources, including medical insurance, and fear or distrust of the system.
The MVMC acts as a clearinghouse for referrals to other agencies in the areas of health, substance abuse, domestic violence, legal issues, and housing and employment rights. When no other agency is available to provide needed services, we aim to meet those we can, such as bringing a Spanish-speaking pediatrician to the center once a month, and providing a monthly perishable food drop service at the center where the participants are from every cultural and ethnic group among the impoverished.

To learn more about our program, follow the links on the left side of the page.

We are always looking for volunteers! If you are interested in helping with events, food distribution, mentoring, or any of our other programs, please contact us!