Sego Leadership receives $2.5M grant for social awareness campaign

SALT LAKE CITY — Sego Leadership, a Salt Lake City nonprofit with the mission of supporting women in leadership roles, recently received a $2.5 million grant to launch a campaign "to scale an innovative solution to help women thrive and everyone win in a rapidly changing workplace."

"The Motherhood Advantage [project] grew from a question, and it's basically this: If any state should know how to value mothers, it's Utah. And how can that value be reflected in the workplace?" Melanie Jones, Sego Leadership CEO, told the Deseret News.

The project will start with a statewide survey, conducted by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah to measure public opinion in Utah on women in the workplace. After the survey, a PhD researcher will conduct interviews and focus groups with different target audiences across Utah to test messaging on the issue.

"Utah doesn't have to choose between strong families and strong women in the workforce," said Melanie Jones, Sego Leadership CEO, in a press release. "We believe Utah's commitment to families could be one of our greatest economic advantages. This award gives us the opportunity to listen to Utahns and help Utahns tell a new story about work that's rooted in our own values and experiences."

"What could happen if the way we work actually reflected what we value most?" she continued. "That is a story only Utahns can tell, and we're excited to tell it."

Grant funding for the project will be awarded as part of the Workplace Innovation Now Challenge, an initiative supporting innovations that open opportunities for women in the workplace. The innovation challenge is supported by Pivotal, a group of social impact organizations founded by Melinda Gates.

"The whole vision for this was when we create workplaces with the needs of women in mind, we create better workplaces for everyone at work, but also their families, their communities. It impacts the community overall," Clare Bresnahan English, senior director of the innovation challenge, told the Deseret News.

"This is a program that is led by women in Utah for Utah," English continues. "It's really women who have been in their community for a long time, seeing gaps, seeing opportunities, and are taking action."

Sego Leadership chosen as one of 18 organizations to receive grant funding

Out of 900 organizations who applied to receive funding through the challenge, Sego Leadership was one of 18 chosen as an awardee. The 18 organizations, selected after a 6-month evaluation process, will receive $60 million in funding combined.

"Through every step of the process, across that scoring rubric, they scored exceptionally well," English said of Sego Leadership. "We are just excited about what the research will help them understand more about what Utah's women and families need to be able to be successful and to be able to find a better approach."

English said the 18 awardees "show us that there is no single blueprint to break down the barrier that women face in the workplace."

"They are all working from different angles to close the gap between what we know can make workplaces better for everyone and what actually becomes standard practice."

Awardees will be celebrated at the Workplace Innovation Now Summit in New York Thursday.

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