General News

By Mia Gaddy and Mecca Howe, Ph.D.

Federal administrative changes in 2025 led to funding cuts for nonprofit organizations, also known as NPOs. NPOs often rely on federal funding to support programming, either directly or through funding that passes through state and local governments. The Charlotte Urban Institute partnered with the Foundation for the Carolinas […]

By Angelique Gaines and Asha Ellison

Preferred news and information sources vary by geographic location. How people access news and information–and who they trust to relay it–are important to establishing a healthy and informed community. But how do we ensure that communities and the people who live within them are engaged with the news and […]

Toye Watson ‘05 B.A., ‘21 M.Ed was recently named director of community and strategic partnerships for the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, a unit within the Division of Academic Affairs. In this role, Watson will cultivate and sustain relationships with community organizations for mutually beneficial community-university engagement, connecting the Institute and University’s assets and deep subject […]

By Sydney Idzikowski and Austin Trujillo

The Charlotte Regional Data Trust brings together data that typically exist in silos to inform effective decision-making and better understand the complicated issues our communities face. Over the past ten years, the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute and Mecklenburg County Community Support Services have worked together to advance data-driven efforts to address housing instability and homelessness.

Here, we dive deep into what we’ve learned together through linking data about people experiencing homelessness to better understand how people are served across systems […]

Sarah Ostyn, The Early Action Project

Young people hear many messages about what comes next in life: go to college, start a career, move up. For many college students with disabilities, however, the path from school to work is far less straightforward. Between 12 and 19 percent of college students report having a disability, and for many of them, preparing for life after graduation involves challenges that extend well beyond coursework. As a result, young adults with disabilities are far less likely than their peers to enter the workforce feeling prepared.

A recent study by UNC Charlotte professors and Gambrell Faculty Fellows Othelia EunKyoung Lee, Ph.D., and Stella Y. Kim, Ph.D., takes a closer […]

By Austin Trujillo

I reflected on this question for some time last month as I stood in the dark among a crowd of 300 people in my small community of China Grove. We watched as a group of Buddhist monks, who had been traveling for 83 days, waved to my wife, my four-month-old son and me. They were on their way to our local community center to spend the night before continuing their 120-day journey toward Washington, D.C. Their goal was simple, yet profound: spreading a message of peace, love and kindness, both through their words and their demonstration of a peace walk across America.

By Bridget Anderson

“We know our impact, but how do we move others to see it too?” I hear this question often in my role as coordinator of the Impact, Data and Evaluation Academy. Data are everywhere in today’s world, and nonprofits are no exception. Yet making sense of it—deciding what data matters, how to use it, and how to communicate it to the right audience—can feel overwhelming. Turning numbers into persuasion is as much an art as it is a technical skill. This spring, a new three-part learning series is designed to bridge that gap. The Art of Data […]

By Lori Thomas, Ph.D.

For more than 25 years, I have been driving from a blue dot to a red dot, from the cities where I have lived in my adulthood to the rural Appalachian home of my childhood, with which I remain physically, emotionally and spiritually connected. Over the past 10 years, I’ve watched […]

By Clayton Sealey
2025 was Charlotte’s most consequential moment for transportation.

With support from local leaders, state legislators passed the Projects for Advancing Vehicle-Infrastructure Enhancements Act, or P.A.V.E Act, giving Mecklenburg County – and neighboring counties – the ability to ask voters whether they wanted more tools to fund transit. Shortly after, voters in Mecklenburg County approved a long-awaited transit referendum, signaling public support for expanding transportation options beyond driving alone. Collectively, these decisions suggested a shift in how those in Charlotte expect transportation to work.

Public attention soon followed. The focus? Buses, rail and novel approaches to our long-term transportation needs. The conversation? Loud, emotional and long overdue.

But while most eyes were on transit, another major transportation initiative moved forward under our noses […]

By Katie Zager
If you’ve ever wondered what a day in the life of a researcher, data scientist, data wrangler or research translator was like, this series is for you. Over the next year, you will have the chance to meet a few of the Charlotte Urban Institute staff members right where they are – in life and at work. These are our stories. Read about Katie Zager first.