Autumn Weathers

Autumn Weathers is a research assistant at Charlotte Urban Institute. Her path to macro social work began not in a classroom, but at kitchen tables and community meetings. Working in personal finance, she saw how systemic barriers kept families stuck in economic instability. That insight, along with her military and life experience, led her to community organizing through the Community Solidarity Network. There, she learned to run community listening sessions, weigh competing perspectives and bridge communication gaps between residents, nonprofits, faith communities and government agencies. She believes research should serve the communities it studies, stay grounded in lived experience and lead to real policy change.

Weathers is pursuing graduate studies in policy advocacy and macro social work. Outside of community work, she can be found thrift-store shopping, volunteering with teens or tending the community garden as a beekeeper.