Articles

By Katie Zager
New data published to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Quality of Life Explorer shows that the rates of chronic absenteeism, when a student misses 10% or more of days in a school year – excused or not, among students in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) remain elevated. Countywide, 22% of students met the definition of chronically […]

By Asha Ellison
Sure, girls just want to have fun – they also want to feel safe and supported. A recent report authored by research associates Bridget Anderson and Mia Gaddy of the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, found that women and girls in the Charlotte metropolitan area largely desire safe and inclusive spaces to thrive […]

By Katie Zager
Moving to or within Charlotte? The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Quality of Life Explorer can help you find your next home. Moving can be stressful, especially when you’re heading to a new city. Finding a place to live, when you don’t know the lay of the land, where to find preferred amenities, or may not know anyone in your new home town, is doubly so. With hundreds of homes for sale, and thousands of apartment listings, where do you even start? Once you’ve settled on your price point, and found a few places that meet your basic needs, what else […]

By: Asha Ellison
You may speak to someone in passing; maybe share a greeting while purchasing a cup of coffee or have a brief exchange while checking out at the grocery store. You may even share a ride on the Light Rail, attend the same religious retreat with your respective churches, cheer together in the supporters section at a Charlotte FC match, or approach a public art installation in Uptown with the same curiosity, but when was the last time you made a genuine connection with someone different from you – in race, culture, class, neighborhood of residence, occupation or education […]

By Mae Israel
How one Charlotte community is learning to navigate its changing and conflicting identities […]

By Katie Zager
Last December, the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, along with the Lake Norman Economic Development Corporation, released the 2023 North Mecklenburg Housing Needs Assessment. This was an update to a report the institute previously released in 2019.

The assessment included information for the three towns that make up northern Mecklenburg County (North Mecklenburg); Cornelius, Davidson, and Huntersville. Here’s what we found […]

By Lori Thomas, Ph.D.
On Feb. 1 at our annual Schul Forum, more than 175 Charlotte residents, neighbors and friends, along with national and local experts, explored the implications of recent research that suggests that economic connectedness, a form of social capital, is connected to upward economic mobility. Dr. Lori Thomas, Executive Director of the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute and Charlotte Regional Data Trust, opened the Forum with these comments […]

By Charlotte Urban Institute
On February 1, 2024 more than 175 people attended the 2024 Schul Forum: Our Connecting Spaces where we examined the spaces and places where we connect with one another: our neighborhoods, schools, houses of worship, the places where we work, play, and create. We asked ourselves: What builds authentic relationships within them? What are the […]

By Ruth Ann Grissom
I often joke that I live in an urban version of Mayberry. Even though my neighborhood is within walking distance of Uptown Charlotte, it has a distinctly small-town feel. We have a colorful cast of characters. Thanks in part to the front porches, small lots and sidewalks, we get to know each other. News travels fast […]

By Katie Zager
New data from the American Community Survey(ACS) shows that poverty rates have decreased in Charlotte and surrounding areas. Among the 14 counties in the region, eight (60%) saw a statistically significant decrease in poverty. The region performed better than the nation as a whole, where about 36% of counties had a significant change in poverty rates […]

By Ruth Ann Grissom
The mild weather we enjoyed this Christmas was a stark contrast to the extreme cold we endured around the holidays last year. The string of lows in the single digits and teens affected my garden well into 2023 […]

By Kailas Venkitasubramanian, Ph.D.
How can we understand Charlotte’s urban growth more holistically? With the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Quality of Life Explorer, of course.