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Kat Lawrence
Charting a Course for a ‘Collective Impact’ B Y B Y R O N P. W H I T E
Associate Provost for Urban Research and Community Engagement Byron P. White joined the University in August 2020. He leads the Office of Urban Research and Community Engagement, formerly called Metropolitan Studies. The office will focus on connecting UNC Charlotte and the community through research, collaboration and engaged scholarship that builds a thriving, inclusive region. It comprises the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, the Women + Girls Research Alliance, the Charlotte Action Research Project and Engaged Scholarship.
42 UNC CHARLOTTE magazine
| Fall 2020
M
ost growth cities do not pay serious attention to equity. They don’t have to. Charlotte-Mecklenburg is different. And UNC Charlotte is critical to the region’s aspiration to ensure that every child and family benefit from the region’s economic growth, regardless of their race or ethnicity, city neighborhood or rural community. That is the primary reason I was pleased to accept the invitation to join Provost Joan Lorden’s team as the University’s first associate provost for Urban Research and Community Engagement. After dozens of mostly virtual interactions with stakeholders on and off campus since arriving, I am emboldened by the community’s and University’s mutual determination, which was fueled by an alarming study published
nearly four year ago that ranked CharlotteMecklenburg last among 50 cities in an analysis of economic mobility.
Charting the course
Since that report, two novel documents were written that have inspired me and that chart a course for our work ahead. One is the University’s Civic Action Plan, developed by staff from across the institution as well as civic leaders. The other is the community’s Leading on Opportunity report, facilitated by the Foundation for the Carolinas with input from hundreds of community participants. As an observer and leader of urban strategy for more than 30 years — as a journalist and researcher, as a community organizer
