1. Home
  2. Articles & Research
  3. Articles

Articles

[title_1]
NoDa perceived: past, present and future of a mill village
   October 28, 2020
Martin Zimmerman

Not that long ago, a few aging blocks in a declining, working-class neighborhood revived from the dust and grit of the textile mill era as Charlotte’s  home-grown arts district. By the mid-1990s, galleries and off-beat music venues replaced empty storefronts. Nightlife began to flourish, and the acronym "NoDa" took hold, affirming a new identity.

Read more
[title_1]
Making the development process more accessible
   October 27, 2020
Ely Portillo

“I had no idea they were building that there.”

It’s one of the most common complaints about development in a fast-growing city like Charlotte. A small house or patch of woods you’ve driven by for years is suddenly gone, scraped clean and replaced with a stand of new apartments or a clump of townhouses. Although developers are required to notify neighbors before of most...

Read more
[title_1]
Fall Berries for Migrating Birds
   October 26, 2020
Ruth Ann Grissom

Say you’re on an extended road trip, traveling hundreds – even thousands – of miles, eating what’s readily available along the interstate. Coffee and donuts for breakfast. A soda and chips for lunch. A burger and fries for dinner.  It fills you up, but leaves you feeling lethargic, bloated and cranky.  You wonder how you’ll survive this seemingly endless trip.  You begin to crave a salad...

Read more
[title_1]
Virtual symposium “Making an Edible South” launches Carolina Garden Trail
   October 8, 2020

Staff Reports

An upcoming virtual symposium in late October called “Making an Edible South” will kick off a year-long celebration of the new Carolina Garden Trail, currently under construction between the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens and the Urban Institute’s new offices in Sycamore Hall.

Dr. David Shields, a distinguished historian of agriculture and food preparation at the...

Read more
[title_1]
2020 Charlotte-Mecklenburg State of Housing Instability & Homelessness Report
   September 23, 2020
Bridget Anderson
Courtney LaCaria

Mecklenburg County Community Support Services releases today the 2020 Charlotte-Mecklenburg State of Housing Instability & Homelessness (SoHIH) Report. The SoHIH report is part of the annual Housing Instability &...

Read more
[title_1]
How to Appreciate a Brown-Eyed Susan
   September 22, 2020
Ruth Ann Grissom

I wasn’t especially fond of brown-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia triloba). They strike me as having a superficial and relentless cheer – like a clerk who automatically chirps Have a great day! when you’re clearly miserable.

But they freely seed around our yard in the Uwharries, and my garden in Charlotte was bare, so I transplanted several clumps. They pop...

Read more
[title_1]
Helping our community ‘push on through’ the crisis
   September 14, 2020
Jeff Michael

A family friend’s favorite saying when things get tough is “we gotta push on through.” That brief statement reflects her reluctance to put a rosy spin on difficult circumstances —  especially when the path forward isn’t always clear — but also her belief in the need to keep moving forward anyway, using the resources available to make the best of the situation.

As we approach the six-...

Read more
[title_1]
Social Capital: A Tale of Caution and a Tale of Hope for Charlotte
   September 10, 2020
Bridget Anderson, Kailas Venkitasubramanian , Lori Thomas

This article was written by the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute. Data utilized in this series was collected in partnership with Leading on Opportunity, Opportunity Insights, Communities In Schools, YMCA of Greater Charlotte, Foundation For The Carolinas and SHARE Charlotte, and with staff funding from The Gambrell Foundation. To see more results from the 2019 Mecklenburg Social Capital...

Read more
[title_1]
Charlotte expands bus rapid transit to a new corridor
   September 9, 2020
Ely Portillo

Charlotte City Council voted Tuesday to expand a pilot program for bus-only lanes onto a second, longer stretch of local roadway, in what could be a model for a more extensive reworking of the city’s bus system. 

Crews will soon begin work to restripe and reconfigure about 2.5 miles of Central Avenue from Eastway Drive to the former Eastland Mall site, converting one general-purpose...

Read more
[title_1]
Housing First Process Evaluation: Many housed, but lessons to learn
   September 3, 2020
Lori Thomas
Joanne Carman

Housing First Charlotte-Mecklenburg (HFCM) was launched in 2015 to end chronic homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg by scaling housing first, particularly the housing first permanent supportive housing model.

Housing first programs prioritize housing as an early step in service delivery, have low-barrier admissions policies, maximize client choice in housing and services, use a harm...

Read more