The Salt Lake County Office of Community Innovation stemmed from the work of Ze Min Xiao, who has been the Refugee Liaison for Salt Lake County since 2008.  Mayor McAdams recognized that Ze was in a unique position to leverage social service and community development resources to assist local service agencies in partnering and improving their existing programs and creating new programs where there were recognized gaps.

Ze, Mayor McAdams, and Human Services Director, Lori Bays recognized that using the model of connecting partners to improve services could extend beyond just the refugee population to include other groups such as Veterans and emerging entrepreneurs.  In 2014, the Office of Community Innovation emerged with Ze as the leader of the office, and Karin Edwards as the Special Project Coordinator.  

Work in refugee services continues, but as the office grows, innovative new projects and partnerships emerge and become sustainable.