When the newest location of Encircle, an LGBTQ+ support organization, opened in Heber City last June, around 600 people gathered to celebrate its inaugural day. “Heber is very tight-knit and care[s] very deeply about their community,” says Executive Director Jordan Sgro. “It was the warmest welcome that we could have had.” 

Already, Sgro says, they “have a steady stream of LGBTQ youth and families coming every day” to take advantage of Encircle’s therapy services and programming.  

The location of Encircle Heber, a.k.a. the Collin Russell Home (named by Isaac and Emma Westwood in memory of Emma’s brother, Collin Russell), is in the former Zions Bank building, a landmark in Heber City. It was originally the home of Abram Hatch, the first Utah legislator to propose voting rights for women. Being in “such an iconic, historic home makes it even more special for the community members to come be a part of it,” Sgro says. 

Encircle opened its first Utah site in Provo in 2017, followed by homes in Salt Lake City and Saint George. While each of these is also situated in a historic house, its next location will be a new building: Encircle plans to open a home in Ogden in 2024. The aim, she says, is “to go to places where there aren’t as many resources for LGBTQ youth and families. In Heber, there is no singular gathering space for youth and families other than Encircle. 

“Our goal is to provide the space for families and youth to navigate the hard conversations and to give people the space to just take a breath and be themselves,” Sgro explains. Often, young people who feel like they can’t do that elsewhere “come to Encircle and they can just exhale for the first time that day.”