Community Research Projects

Community Research Projects

The Mulliss Center for Civic Engagement at Davidson has played a central role in community needs assessments and facilitated community-based research projects through academic courses in partnership with faculty. 

Past Projects

• Summer 2023: A team of four students worked with the faculty team of Profs. Laurie Heyer, Stacey Riemer and Brittany Murray and the Center for Racial Equity in Education (CREED) on several intersecting research projects related to North Carolina School Boards.

• Summer 2022: Fellows finalized the report from the summer of 2021, developed a Community Research data dashboard, and developed several “research in brief” documents that summarize findings from prior summers using data visualizations.

• Summer 2021: Fellows engaged in multi-method, place-based community research in the key focus areas identified in the 2020 North Mecklenburg Needs Assessment: housing, healthcare, and early childhood care and education. Using a data equity framework, the team analyzed existing foundational literature and data sources, held focus groups and developed a survey that was administered to focus neighborhoods in North Mecklenburg county.   

• Summer 2020: Fellows completed a broad needs assessment. The team developed the 2020 North Mecklenburg Needs Assessment Summary Report, a webpage featuring data about our community, and the Community Research Library Guide that indexes research and data on social issues in the greater Charlotte Mecklenburg area.