News

CAPS invites you to join us this summer to foster connection, build community, enhance your wellness, and to be empowered. Please email Dr. Shar’Dane Smith at ssmit571@uncc.edu by May 13th, 2024 if you are interest in participating.

The Women’s Summit is a celebration of the strength, resilience, and achievements of women from all walks of life. It serves as a platform for meaningful discussions, insightful workshops, and invaluable networking opportunities. At this year’s summit, we will delve into the critical issues facing women today, exploring avenues for progress and empowerment. We will […]

CAPS Presents “Rest and Wake Up” with award winning author, meditation teacher and rest coach Octavia Raheem. Raheem will facilitate a communal rest space for BIPOC students to awake their fullest potential through the power of rest. Light snacks and refreshments will be provided after. Register using the QR code on the flyer or this […]

The Non-Profit Internship Program (NPIP) is an eight-week long paid summer internship (beginning around May 31st for most) where students are matched with and work with nonprofit organizations from across North Carolina. Internships offer a range of exposure and skill-building opportunities in areas such as research, community outreach, public policy, communications, fundraising and social media. […]

Earlier this semester, the Women + Girls Research Alliance convened “Taking Space without Apology: A Women and Girls Leadership Café.” This effort brought together the collective voices representing UNC Charlotte faculty; staff; community leaders; and middle, high school and college students from across the Charlotte metro area to engage with local organizations committed to building […]

The Women + Girls Research Alliance (W+GRA) is excited to announce their 2023-2024 Seed Grants recipients. Each of the grants emphasize community partnerships and community-engaged research activities that address the critical areas of mental health and wellness, economic security/mobility, and equity in the Charlotte metropolitan area. The W+GRA has awarded each grantee, or team $5000, […]

The Women + Girls Research Alliance, a unit of UNC Charlotte’s urbanCORE, in partnership with the Women’s Intercultural Exchange (https://www.wi-ce.net), will host its second “Taking Space Without Apology: A Women and Girls Leadership Café” from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Oct. 16, at UNC Charlotte’s Popp Martin Student Union. This year’s themes will center on […]

Dr. Michelle Meggs sat down with Fran Marie from 95.1 Kiss FM to discuss how to attend the 2023 Women + Girls Leadership Alliance on October 16 to be held at the Popp Martin Student Union at UNC Charlotte. Tune in to the Francene Marie Show on Kiss 95.1 FM

Established in 2006, the Women + Girls Research Alliance (W+GRA) provides the UNC Charlotte community a space to focus on crucial research and education on women’s issues. Their work focuses on civic and political engagement, economic security and violence against women. The alliance is a unit of Charlotte’s urbanCORE, which focuses on the challenges preventing […]

Michelle Meggs is the executive director of the Women + Girls Research Alliance, an affiliate of urbanCORE at UNC Charlotte. The more you learn about Meggs, the more you understand why this award was well-deserved. Her work with women and girls stretches across the Charlotte area, reaching numerous nonprofit organizations that help women make their […]

By Jimmeka Anderson With a growing interest in the educational space focused on designing accessible and inclusive digital learning opportunities through materials and digital public infrastructure, developers, educators, and researchers need to understand the experiences of those students who are most deprived of equitable outcomes in education. According to the 2019 Nation’s Report Card, Black […]

Dr. Meggs, Executive Director of the Women + Girls Research Alliance (W + GRA) a division of urbanCORE at UNC Charlotte, will be one of 20 women appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper to serve as an at-large member of the North Carolina Council for Women. As part of a cohort of 20 Council members, Dr. […]

The Women + Girls Research Alliance (W + GRA), a division of urbanCORE at UNC Charlotte, is pleased to announce new members of its Advisory Board. Bringing diverse and extensive experience in government and business, the new Board members share in W + GRA’s mission to make a difference in the community by providing fair […]

W+GRA is pleased to release our initial report on the focus of our 2021-2022 work: The “She-Cession”.

Key findings: Post-Summit survey participants recommended that we focus on Women Missing from the Workplace during our 2021-2023 research cycle. Our secondary focuses will explore:

The Women + Girls Research Alliance is partnering with Ally Financial to present a research summit in March 2021, focused on education, employment, health, the impact of COVID-19, and dialogue centered around the economic mobility of women and girls in our community. Ally has awarded W+GRA a $10,000 grant to support the summit, a biennial […]

The UNC Charlotte Women + Girls Research Alliance welcomes our new Executive Director, Dr. Michelle Meggs. Dr. Meggs, whose diverse background includes work in academia, the nonprofit sector and ministry, envisions the W+GRA becoming the place for scholars across the state and nation to come together to advance gender equity and social mobility. Dr. Meggs […]

Dr. Jaclyn Piatak’s brief, “Gender, Employment Sector, and Displacement: An Examination of Mecklenburg County during the Jobless Recovery Period”, explores gender differences in employment outcomes for the United States as a whole, and North Carolina and Mecklenburg County in particular—with a focus on the jobless recovery period following the 2008 Recession. Dr. Piatak is an […]