Publications and Reports

In the wake of manufacturing-based economies that once formed the basis for much of the region’s prosperity, three cities and towns in the Carolinas Urban-Rural Connection study area are hoping the crack of a bat will herald economic revival. Gastonia and Kannapolis were once textile powerhouses, while High Point remains an important player in the […]

Charlotte planners are trying to change the city’s decades-long focus on building streets solely for cars with an effort to map and plan for future bicycle lanes, expanded sidewalks and more accommodations for alternative ways of getting around like scooters. The first phase of that effort — mapping and planning for the streets along the […]

On weekday mornings, Davon Goodwin drops off his son at elementary school and heads to the Sandhills AGInnovation Center in Ellerbe to see what the day will bring. Some days he plants vegetables or fruit at the center, occasionally with the help of volunteers. When farmers show up needing a tractor, tillers or mobile refrigerated […]

This story is one of seven vignettes in the series Rural by Choice: Navigating Identity in the Uwharries. Chappell Russell and Justin Foley were living the millennial dream. They met at Appalachian State. He worked for a large CPA firm in uptown Charlotte. She helped run a small dog-training business. They had an apartment in […]

[Read the full report here] It was a cold January day in 2018 when eight researchers from UNC Charlotte’s Urban Institute stepped out into the brisk air in Hamlet, a small town in Richmond County, N.C. A dusting of snow from a surprise storm the previous day still covered the railroad tracks adjacent to the […]

The cluster of old factory buildings, warehouses, missile assembly and munition storage facilities just north of uptown have long glimmered with possibility – if you could look beyond the dingy facades and faded, rusty interiors. Now, more of that possibility is becoming a reality at Camp North End, on a nearly 80-acre triangle of land […]

As the McColl Center for Art + Innovation enters its second decade, its leaders are trying to increase collaboration with new and emerging artists. “It’s a very exciting time for Charlotte,” said president and CEO Alli Celebron-Brown. “Looking back at the last decade, everything that is available has increased and shifted…We’re looking at what’s happening […]

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Opportunity Task Force identified college and career readiness as one of three determinants with the greatest influence on an individual’s ability to move up the economic ladder. In other words, to improve economic opportunity in our community, we must improve college- and career-readiness, particularly among children and youth. To do this, we first […]

The Charlotte region lags comparable areas in the robustness of its local food economy across multiple metrics, concludes the draft of a year-long study by the City of Charlotte. The report from consultants KarenKarp & Partners examines the state of farming in the metro region, the landscape of farmers markets in Charlotte, wholesale activity in […]

A little before 10 one hot morning last summer, a few men with clipboards made their way around the crowded lobby at the nonprofit Crisis Assistance Ministry. Men, women and children awaited a turn to tell their stories to agency counselors who – they hoped – could give them enough money to keep the power […]