Articles

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Failure of nerve: Bolder vision needed for an uncertain future
   July 27, 2011

Charlotte’s draft 2020 Vision Plan is a disappointing document. Despite the hard work, the glossy graphics are mostly pretty pictures of conventional thinking rather than visions for a different future.

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The Sandhills' peachy heritage
   July 21, 2011
Ruth Ann Grissom
A peach display in the grocery store might mention where the fruit was grown. Too often, that means Georgia or California. At a farm stand in the Sandhills, the peaches come from an orchard right here on the edge of the Uwharries. Growers even note the specific variety. Read more


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Mecklenburg County Community Food Assessment 2010, Phase 2
   July 19, 2011

Elizabeth Racine & Qingfang Wang

In 2010, a UNC Charlotte research team led by Dr. Elizabeth Racine conducted a Mecklenburg County Community Food Assessment for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Food Policy Council.  The results of Phase 1 of that study (posted on this website in September...

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Gaston, onetime manufacturing heavyweight, now lags Union
   July 19, 2011

Local perceptions may not have caught up with the new reality in the Charlotte region’s manufacturing economy. Even before the recession began in 2007, declines in the textile and furniture industries were changing the structure of local employment. Read more


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A new game of 'frogger'
   July 14, 2011
Crystal Cockman
After a natural heritage field biologist heard the low, song-like call of a frog never before documented in this part of North Carolina, we decided to see if we could capture one to confirm the finding. So one evening, after a rain, we made our way through waist-high stinging nettle and the silty mud of the South Yadkin River, to a floodplain pool to wait ... Read more


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The Founding Gardeners
   July 5, 2011
Ruth Ann Grissom
In 1786, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were in London to negotiate a trade deal and follow up on unfulfilled terms of the peace treaty reached at the end of the Revolutionary War. When talks bogged down, they took a break to visit the English countryside. Read more


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UNC Charlotte Urban Institute Announces Regional Indicators Website
   June 30, 2011
Jeff Michael

The UNC Charlotte Urban Institute opens a new chapter today in fulfilling its forty-year mission of serving the Charlotte region with the launch of its new on-line Charlotte Regional Indicators website. 

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United Way of Central Carolinas Needs Assessment 2011 - Full Report
   June 23, 2011

Hannah Guerrier

In June 2010, United Way of Central Carolinas commissioned the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute to conduct a comprehensive community needs assessment for its five-county service area.  The primary purpose of the study was to pinpoint the community’s greatest needs and identify gaps in the current array of human services. This study is one of several endeavors UWCC is pursuing as part of a broader...

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United Way of Central Carolinas Releases Needs Assessment Full Report
   June 23, 2011

Staff
Just over a year ago, the United Way of Central Carolinas (UWCC) partnered with the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute to conduct a region-wide community needs assessment.  The Executive Summary of the report for this study was released online and at community meetings several weeks ago, and now the full report  is available for review. Read more


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Native pollinators
   June 16, 2011

Dana Powell

Fruits and vegetables that taste like summer—tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, blueberries, raspberries, melons—are swelling and ripening in gardens and farms of our region. These crops would be far less abundant without the buzzing chorus of pollinating insects that provide their services for free.

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