Indian Relocation Program (1950s-1970s)
The federal government encouraged Native Americans to leave reservations for cities, offering job training, housing assistance, and one-way transportation. Salt Lake City was one of the program's destination cities.
Thousands of Native families moved to cities, where many found poverty and discrimination instead of promised jobs. Community organizations formed to fill the gap.
The majority of Native Americans now live in cities, and urban Indian centers like Salt Lake's are core institutions of Native life.
The Urban Indian Center of Salt Lake grew out of this migration. The powwow at Smith's Ballpark is a public expression of the urban, intertribal community the program created.
