NNIP Partner Application: City of Charlotte, UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, and Mecklenburg County

This is the joint application of the City of Charlotte, UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, and Mecklenburg County to join NNIP. NNIP Charlotte represents a unique collaboration of organizations. The three organizations work together to maintain the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Quality of Life Study, a neighborhood levl indicators project for Mecklenburg County.

• City of Charlotte: The mission of City of Charlotte Neighborhood & Business Services is to strengthen and grow Charlotte’s neighborhoods and businesses. The goal of the Community Engagement Division is that residents, businesses and youth will be informed, engaged, and empowered to take action that improves quality of life in their neighborhoods and across the community.The City of Charlotte promotes the use of data and information by all residents and neighborhoods across the community.
• UNC Charlotte Urban Institute: The UNC Charlotte Urban Institute (Institute) is a nonpartisan, applied research and community outreach center at UNC Charlotte. The Institute is part of UNC Charlotte’s Metropolitan Studies and Extended Academic Programs, which includes a number of the university’s community engagement initiatives. As an applied research and community outreach center, the Institute serves as an important bridge between the University and the larger Charlotte community.One way they are increasingly doing this is by being the trusted source for data on the Charlotte region.
• Mecklenburg County: Mecklenburg County Departments of Health and Social Services began participation in the Quality of Life Study by providing local data beginning in 1997. During the 2012 Quality of Life Study iteration, Mecklenburg County joined as a full partner as a result of recommendations from the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge (SCC), which focused on the issue of Joint Master Capital Planning in Mecklenburg County.Mecklenburg County is committed to making data driven decisions. The expansion of the Quality of Life Study presented an opportunity for data sharing across the County with all local government entities, allowing jurisdictions to observe and identify neighborhood-level drivers, trends and other factors that are indicators of neighborhood health.