Health & Wellness

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 […]

Sow Much Good, a local community organization dedicated to empowering residents to improve their health through better nutrition, has created an outdoor classroom and garden at Ashley Park Elementary in Charlotte. Supported through local corporate groups including Wells Fargo, Sow Much Good’s founder, Robin Emmons has worked with Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) to create a […]

The needs assessment was in response to Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s emergence as what Roberto Suro and Audrey Singer of the Pew Hispanic Center and Brookings Institution termed a “Hispanic Hypergrowth Metro.” Between 1990 and 2000 Mecklenburg’s Hispanic population – as captured by the census – grew by more than 38,000 persons (from about 7,000 to 45,000). In […]

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 2010) looked at the presence or absence of food stores in Mecklenburg’s Census Block Groups […]

Four years ago, my sister, Amy, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her treatment – six rounds of chemo, two surgeries and 33 sessions of radiation – took a toll on her right shoulder. Her surgeon suggested some basic exercises for strength and mobility. She also started swimming laps. She liked being buoyant in the warm […]