Our Mission
The Charlotte Action Research Project’s (CHARP) mission is to provide a strong and sustained infrastructure between UNC Charlotte and local marginalized neighborhoods. We will establish opportunities to work with neighborhoods on mutually beneficial action research, service learning, popular education, and community organizing projects in order to address spatial inequality.
We strive for this mission through 4 strategic goals.
- Implement action research projects in partnership with local, marginalized neighborhoods. Each of these projects will focus on a research question regarding a pressing issue facing our partner communities as identified by both residents and CHARP personnel.
- Provide high-quality opportunities for service learning experience to UNC Charlotte students. We aim to expand these opportunities to a broad range of disciplines across camps. We will continue to “grow” the ethos and culture of service learning on UNC Charlotte’s campus through CHARP.
- Continue to build a CHARP model that integrates action research, service learning, community organizing, and opportunities for popular education. Popular education offers opportunities and courses for neighborhood residents around empowerment and awareness of the social environment and structural inequality in which they live.
- Engage the UNC Charlotte community in meaningful and visible volunteer events in our partner neighborhoods. These events will include a process of orientation, action, and reflection to make the experience impactful for both the student and the community.