Charlotte Regional Data Trust

The Charlotte Regional Data Trust (Data Trust) is a community-university partnership that links data across service and organizational silos to provide information our community can act on. The Data Trust is a nonprofit organization governed by community and university board members committed to increasing the community’s capacity for data-informed decision-making and fostering research that impacts the community and deepens understanding of complex community issues.

At the heart of the Data Trust’s integrated data system is the capacity to link individual-level administrative data across agencies, sectors, and programs. Administrative data are collected for primarily operational purposes as people engage with services and agencies.  At the Data Trust, we repurpose administrative data for research, evaluation and planning. Through this reuse of data, burden is reduced since researchers don’t have to collect data, and people in the data don’t have to repeatedly answer the same questions. 

Administrative data are imperfect, however, and other forms of data may be required to provide a better and more nuanced picture of an issue. With our web portal, funded by the University and community investors, the Data Trust can also link administrative data to other forms of data. For example, linking administrative data with the neighborhood data included in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Quality of Life Explorer, provides more comprehensive data resources for our region. 

The Data Trust was founded in 2004 as the Institute for Social Capital by a group of community stakeholders including UNC Charlotte, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, the Foundation For The Carolinas, Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services, and the United Way of Greater Charlotte. It was incorporated in 2005 as a 501(c)(3) organization and a subsidiary of the UNC Charlotte Foundation. In 2012, the Data Trust became part of the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute. In 2022, it was renamed the Charlotte Regional Data Trust.

The Data Trust is governed by a board of directors and staffed by the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute. In addition to their fiduciary responsibilities, the board of directors guides the strategic priorities of the Charlotte Urban Institute. Through its affiliation with UNC Charlotte and the Institute, the Data Trust also offers analytical support to assist organizations in their research and data analysis efforts.

Data Trust Contacts:
Lori Thomas, Ph.D.
Executive Director, UNC Charlotte Urban Institute + Charlotte Regional Data Trust

Sydney Idzikowski, MSW
Associate Director, Charlotte Regional Data Trust

More information:
Our Data Partners
How We Work
How to Access Data
FAQs
Board of Directors
Data and Research Oversight Committee (DAROC)