Better Days 2020 is a Utah-based educational organization that promotes women’s history curricula in Utah schools. The organization was formed in 2016 and titled Better Days 2020 to highlight the year 2020 as the 150th anniversary of Utah being the first state to grant women the right to vote, the 100th anniversary of the entry into force of the Nineteenth Amendment granting women’s suffrage across the United States, and the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. The organization is funded by many Utah-based foundations as well as the state government and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. ^{1 2}

Background

Better Days 2020 was founded in 2016 to promote women’s history curricula in Utah and celebrate the 150th anniversary of women’s suffrage in Utah, the 100th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment, and the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. The group developed a statewide curriculum promoting women’s history education in Utah’s K-12 schools, sponsored a Utah Women’s History license plate, and raised funds for a statue of Martha Hughes Cannon, a Utahan who was the nation’s first female state senator, which the state legislature voted to display in the U.S. Capitol. ³

Neylan McBaine, one of the cofounders of Better Days 2020, stated that the group was founded to combat a lack of public knowledge about the role of Utah within national women’s history. McBaine also stated that the history of polygamy, which was practiced widely in the state at the time of women’s suffrage, contributed to a hesitance to promote the state’s history. McBaine noted that Cannon was one of her husband’s six wives. ³

The organization continues to promote its women’s history curriculum, which focuses on grades 4 to7 “Utah Studies” classes and U.S. history classes in grades 5 to 11. The group’s curriculum is tied to the Utah Core State Standards. The group also partners with the Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah to offer teacher trainings on Utah’s role in the women’s suffrage movement and operates a website titled utahwomenshistory.org, where its curriculum is available to the public. ^{4 5}

People

Better Days 2020’s Board of directors includes representatives from the office of U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and the office of Utah Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson (R). The advisory board of the group includes former U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams (D-UT), Rep. John Curtis (R-UT), former Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski (D), and Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes (R). ¹

Funding

Better Days 2020 receives funding from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Foundation, the Stewart Family Foundation, Zions Bank, Dominion Energy, the Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Foundation, and left-leaning groups the Alliance for a Better Utah, Action Utah, and the League of Women Voters of Utah. ²

1. “About Better Days.” Better Days 2020. Accessed June 27, 2022. https://www.betterdays2020.com/aboutbetterdays
2. “Partners.” Better Days 2020. Accessed June 27, 2022. https://www.betterdays2020.com/partners
3. Reiss, Jana. “If we want equality for women in Utah, we can look to history.” Religion News Service. March 18, 2022. Accessed June 27, 2022. https://religionnews.com/2022/03/18/if-we-want-equality-for-women-in-utah-we-can-look-to-history/
4. “Projects.” Better Days 2020. Accessed June 27, 2022. https://www.betterdays2020.com/projects
5. “Home.” Utah Women’s History. Accessed June 27, 2022. https://www.utahwomenshistory.org/