Charlotte Economic Inclusion Plan

The Charlotte Economic Inclusion Plan analyzes the impact of historical racism and segregation on Charlotte, NC and releases its recommendations for eliminating the entrenched poverty existing in large swaths of the city.

"Charlotte was once known as a site of great promise for racial justice," said NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson. "In 1974, it was called, 'The City That Made Integration Work.' However, the persistence of voter suppression has prevented this early progress from having a lasting effect on African Americans' prosperity in Charlotte and throughout North Carolina. With our Economic Inclusion Plan, we're providing federal, state, and local government officials concrete recommendations on how to resolve issues pertaining to housing, jobs, and education in these Black communities."

The Economic Inclusion Plan (EIP) will be a resource for community residents, elected officials and stakeholders to alleviate systematic, government-sanctioned racial discrimination with beneficial economic policy and programmatic solutions. 

Stark economic contrasts, many of which the report shows emerged from racist policies that promoted and reinforced segregation and access to resources, continue to mark Charlotte as we move deeper in the 21st century. The report revealed government-sanctioned practices that perpetuate homelessness and racial disparities in arrests and showed Charlotte to be one of the nation's most gerrymandered districts.

The Charlotte report found that the Black poverty rate is more than double the white poverty rate within the metropolitan statistical district and Charlotte city. The disparity in child poverty is even greater: within Charlotte city, African-American children are more than three times more likely to live in poverty than white children are, and Hispanic children are 5.5 times more likely.The Black unemployment rate within Charlotte city exceeds the white unemployment rate by a factor of 2.6 – higher than the national average.

The report makes extensive policy prescriptions for improving the economic wellbeing of African Americans in Charlotte and advancing an agenda that promotes affordable housing, combats homelessness, addresses barriers to quality education, and opposes all legislation that supports racial discrimination and perpetuates poverty.

Read the full report below.