Urban Institute

An outdoor, living exhibit is on its way to the UNC Charlotte campus that will tell the story of North Carolina through plants and crops crucial to the state’s development.

A new program designed to identify solutions for some of the pressing needs and issues facing the greater Charlotte region is getting underway this fall at the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute. For the first time, the Institute has named a cohort of Faculty Fellows to conduct research projects and work alongside local stakeholders to understand and share findings that can guide community decision-making.

The National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP) presented UNC Charlotte’s Urban Institute and Mecklenburg County its annual G. Thomas Kingsley Impact Award in recognition of a research project related to the effects of evictions.

Charlotte City Walks is back for its eighth year, with something for everyone from foodies to history buffs to art enthusiasts. Participants will get an up-close look at deeply rooted neighborhoods such as Belmont, a former mill village undergoing radical redevelopment, explore murals in NoDa or the public art along the Blue Line light rail or taste some of the city’s thriving food scene.

Ely Portillo, a longtime reporter for the Charlotte Observer, recently joined UNC Charlotte’s Urban Institute as assistant director for outreach and strategic partnerships.  He will oversee the institute’s online engagement activities, including its coverage of regional policy issues and the dissemination of research findings.

Professor Emeritus Norm Schul and his wife, Marianne ’73, recently made a major gift to the Urban Institute to establish the Marianne and Norman W. Schul Urban Institute Forum Series.

In 2012, James and Deborah Fallows began a years-long journey to explore America’s smaller communities, traveling by a single-engine, propeller plane. They chronicled their adventures in the book “Our Towns,” a collection of stories that depict civic and economic reinvention taking place across America.

Charlotte was selected as the flagship city for a new project on economic mobility thanks in part to the unique aptitude of the Institute for Social Capital at UNC Charlotte’s Urban Institute.

Members of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community have a new way to share their opinions on a variety of issues with the launch of YourVoiceCLT.

Mary Newsom, director of urban policy initiatives at the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, has been elected chair of the board of trustees at the Charlotte Museum of History.  Newsom had been vice chair of the board, which she joined in 2013.