The Equality State has a rich tradition of grit overcoming adversity. With that in mind MWCEP launched the Profiles in Wyoming Resilience Project to seek to get a better picture of how Wyomingites perceive both barriers to and opportunities for success in education, employment, and community resilience.
The project employs PhotoVoice, a research methodology designed to capture people’s perspectives of their lives through photography and narrative. Across 2021-23, we asked Wyomingites to share their perspectives through the pictures that they provide of life in their communities, gathering 900+ submissions from Wyoming and surrounding states. You can read more about this project in our article in the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement. In the project, we’ve purposefully focused on the priority areas identified by Governor Mark Gordon focusing on education & workforce and economic diversity & economic development, which support Wyoming’s Strategy to Survive, Drive and Thrive. We seek to add a rich context to other economic and behavioral data being collected to inform policy in Wyoming, and particularly to add under-represented individual’s voices from around the state.
The project attempts to break down silos across the state to forge new relationships to bridge long-standing divides across Wyoming, which keep known problems apart from potential solutions. We believe Wyoming’s challenges can be addressed by leveraging effective partnerships, practices, and resources to better understand both pressing problems and proven solutions. In the second phase of the project, we are partnering with K-12 teacher partners to gather youth voices, a group that is seldom asked to share their perspectives, to address these key questions that shape their future.
Wyoming Youth Resilience Project - Addressing Wyoming’s Opportunities and Challenges
MWCEP is partnering with teachers in 20+ schools over 18 months (January 2025-July 2026) to collect youth perspectives about barriers and opportunities in educational attainment, employment, and community resilience that will be showcased locally and on through the Wyoming Resilience Map. These results can be used in Wyoming K-12 classrooms, to inform community and state economic development priorities, and to develop a deeper understanding of what resilience means in different Wyoming communities.
The Wyoming Youth Resilience Project creates a community of practice for Wyoming educators to empower youth voices through curriculum and applied practice. As a response to Governor Gordon’s Reimagining and Innovating the Delivery of Education (RIDE) Initiative focused on youth life skills and community involvement, the project works with teachers to help their students to be engaged citizens.
The project was launched in January 2025 with a cohort of teachers from Sheridan High School, Cheyenne South, Riverton High School, and Meeteetse School. Recruitment for participants for the 2025-26 academic year will be ongoing across 2025-26. We will leverage the relationships we have with teachers who have participated in one of our summer workshops and those who use the Wallop K-12 curriculum to recruit teachers for the statewide cohort. Those interested in participating should email MWCEP at wallop@uwyo.edu. We will make presentations at Wyoming high schools, solicit through Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) and other networks, and host open informational sessions.
Project results can be used in Wyoming K-12 classrooms, to inform community and state economic development priorities, and to develop a deeper understanding of what resilience means in different Wyoming communities.
