Charlotte - The UNC Charlotte Urban Institute (UI) completed its Mecklenburg County Latino Community Needs Assessment, a research report commissioned by the Latin American Coalition and funded by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The UI study found that of the 66,000 Latino populations living in Mecklenburg County, 12,800 of those are U.S. born.

In addition, the research found that the estimated economic impact of Latino immigrant workers on the Charlotte metropolitan economy was $1.9 billion in 2004 and included 16,900 new jobs created by their economic activity. Leading occupations of Mecklenburg County’s Hispanic population as of March 2005 included construction workers, carpenters, janitors and building cleaners.

To learn more about this study and its outcome, visit the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute Web site at http://www.ui.uncc.edu/.