Talk About It Tuesday

In connection with our Welcome to Brookhill exhibition we will have a series of conversations about the themes in the work.

These conversations will help us understand the context within which the Brookhill Community exists. This program tells the larger story of the history of redlining and its effect on black neighborhoods in Charlotte as described by Dr. Tom Hanchett. Ashley Clark of UNC Charlotte’s Urban Institute will walk us through her research on affordable housing and what the data trends say about some of our most vulnerable Charlotteans.

About The Panelists

Ashley Williams Clark is the Director of Outreach and Strategic Partnerships at the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, a non-partisan, applied research and community outreach institute seeking solutions to the social, economic, and environmental challenges facing our communities. Clark’s community research work focuses on affordable housing and homelessness. For the past four years she has worked on the Institute’s Housing Instability and Homelessness report series, which is funded by Mecklenburg County Community Support Services.

Clark earned her Masters degree in city and regional planning at UNC Chapel Hill, where she specialized in housing and community development. Prior to joining UNC Charlotte, Ashley worked in Washington D.C. at the Urban Institute as a Research Associate in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center and as Director of Operations of the Urban Institute Academy for Public Policy Analysis and Research. She volunteers her time on the boards of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Foundation, Share Charlotte, Circle de Luz, and Bruce Irons Camp Fund and is a senior consultant with the Policy Academies.

Dr. Tom Hanchett is the author of the book Sorting Out the New South City: Race, Class & Urban Development in Charlotte, a history of Charlotte’s growth. His writings range widely on urban history and Southern culture and include an essay on the history of U.S. shopping malls and a monthly newspaper column, “Food from Home” in the Charlotte Observer, about Charlotte’s old and new food traditions.

Hanchett recently retired after 16 years as the staff historian for Levine Museum of the New South. Charlotte Magazine calls him “Charlotte’s Dr. History” and named him a 2015 Charlottean of the Year. Hanchett holds degrees from Cornell University, University of Chicago and UNC Chapel Hill, respectively.