For the majority of girls born into poverty in the Charlotte region, they will have a harder time breaking out of that economic state. UNC Charlotte’s Women + Girls Research Alliance (W+GRA) is bringing researchers and the community together to explore improving economic mobility opportunities for women as the focus of its 2016 W+GRA Summit.
A day-and-a-half event, the 2016 W+GRA Summit will be Thursday and Friday, April 14-15. Registration is through April 8; space is limited.
“In a major study, Charlotte ranked 50th out of 50 U.S. cities in terms of economic mobility — the ability of an individual or family to improve their economic status,” said Heather Brown, executive director of the Women + Girls Research Alliance. “Summit attendees will have the opportunity to learn about research on various topics related to economic mobility, and then they can make informed decisions to seek solutions or engage in actions to improve opportunities for girls and women who live in the Charlotte region.”
Thursday’s plenary panel and research briefs/roundtable discussions will be in the PORTAL Building. Following registration and welcome remarks, which begin at noon, April 14, Susan Crandall, director of the Center for Social Policy at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, will moderate “Women’s Leadership in Economic Mobility + Community Development.” Panelists for this topic will be Carol Hardison, CEO, Crisis Assistance Ministry; Tracy Russ, principal and CEO, SOLID; Brenda Tindal, staff historian, Levine Museum of the New South; and Yolanda Troutman, Mecklenburg County district court judge.
UNC Charlotte students have been engaged in researching a number of topics related to women and economic mobility.
At 3 p.m., April 14, Erin Godly-Reynolds, a doctoral student in health psychology, will present on breastfeeding and its policy impacts that could improve economic mobility; Levine Scholar Eileen Jakeway will lead a discussion of “The Female Call to Authorship in Popular Fiction and Academia”; and Brooke Palmer, a healthy psychology doctoral student, will discuss how culturally inappropriate treatment may adversely affect women and girls.
Then, at 4 p.m., doctoral students Brisa Urquieta de Hernandez, Faith Butta and Tiffany Hollis will present and discuss their research. Their topics are “Sustaining Community-based Participatory Research Projects: Lessons Learned Developing Latina Community Groups,” “Unseen and Unheard: Addressing Homelessness in Charlotte” and Climbing the Ladder One Rung at a Time: Examining the Role of Economic Mobility in Educational Attainment,” respectively.
For Friday, April 15, the summit moves to UNC Charlotte Center City. There will be research discussions related to education, the costs of violence against women, work and wages, bridging divides/building solutions, entrepreneurship and community development and removing (in)visible barriers through empathy.
Ophelia Garmon-Brown, co-chair of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Opportunity Task Force and senior vice president of community outreach for Novant Health, will give the opening address “Why Talk about Economic Mobility for Women + Girls?” After lunch, retired astronaut Joan Higginbotham, director of supplier diversity for Lowe’s Companies, will participate in the plenary panel discussion “STEAM Careers as a Path for Economic Mobility.”
The summit concludes with a celebration of female owners of food and beverage enterprises in the greater Charlotte region.
Volunteers are needed to assist with the summit “Economic Mobility for Women + Girls: From Research to Practice + Policy.” UNC Charlotte students or employees who are interested in helping with the summit should email Heather Brown at hbrown56@uncc.edu. Volunteers will be able to register to attend the summit for free.