Publications and Reports
Alternatives to Violence in Beatties Ford: Year-three program evaluation reveals promise and opportunity
By Fatima Rodriguez Caba
In 2019 and 2020, homicide rates within Charlotte rose by 45%.
This rise motivated the City of Charlotte to implement the Alternatives to Violence program within the Beatties Ford Road corridor. The corridor includes historical landmark neighborhoods and sites, Black-owned businesses and Johnson C. Smith University, Charlotte’s only historically Black college. While rich in community, history and culture, the corridor has borne the burden of historical discrimination and marginalization (e.g., redlining, predatory lending), resulting in a lack of socioeconomic development and resource investment– leading to disproportionately higher rates of poverty, crime and violence within the corridor […]
Latino families in Mecklenburg County value education – but don’t enroll in early education programs. Here’s why, and what we can do about it.
By Sarah Ostyn
The research is clear: 90% of the brain develops before age 51.
Experiences that occur during this period set the stage for everything that is to come, making early childhood an exciting and significant time in our lives. Children – especially immigrant children and those in low-income households2 – who participate in high-quality early care and education, also known as ECE, have higher educational attainment, resulting in stronger communities and local economic growth […]