VETERAN IMPACT ON THE CHARLOTTE METRO

AREA 1976-2016
PROJECT SCOPE
February 8, 2016

OVERVIEW
1. Project Background and Description
We as a collective group decided to look at the impact that veterans have had on the
Charlotte Metro area for the past forty years. For this inquiry of the past forty years we will be
looking at impacts that have happened on the economy; housing and mortgage rates (the rise and
fall of rate and how they reflect on nations military actions of the time.); education benefits
then, and now; different laws that were implemented, and repealed; and an overview of the
political and culture view of the time toward veterans and the military as a whole.
2. Project Scope
We are looking at the last forty years because our nation as a whole has underwent multiple
wars, conflicts, and terrorist attacks. Veterans have been affected greatly in this time, all around
the nation. However, we want to focus on the veterans in the Charlotte metro area. We will focus
on the positive and negative aspects for our veterans in this time span.
Topics & Subtopics to be covered
Economy
We will look at the city government ledgers in communitys that have a high population
of veterans versus low population. In doing so we can statistically show how much of an
impact veterans make on the citys economy versus civilians.
Housing and mortgage rates
When it comes to housing and mortgage rates, veterans are given the opportunity to take
advantage of low cost homeownership, by using their government assisted loans. We
will look at the populations of veterans in the high dense areas of Charlotte and see how
the price point and rate of their mortgages reflects the surrounding homes. Also we will
investigate how the percentage rates reflect the nation military actions per decade
divided into the forty year period.
Laws that have effected veterans over the years
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 We will investigate laws that have affected veterans such as health care reform,
retirement petitions and other laws that only affect veterans. We will also try and find
laws that were passed only by Charlotte to protect or isolate veterans now and then.
Education/healthcare benefits
When it comes to education/healthcare benefits, its amazing how different it applies to
veterans now in regards to veterans 40 years ago. We will explain the difference-- the
pros and cons-- of the education/healthcare benefits.
General overview of the nation/city toward veterans
In this section we will look at the nation climate toward veterans. Are they welcomed
back from war with open arms or with pitch forks and harsh words? Do people trust or
are willing to hire veterans? We will delve deeper in our projectthis is just an
overview.
3. Research
How will we get our information?
We are planning on visiting city hall in person or online
We will be looking at ledger or the microfilm of them for the information on the
citys ledgers for the past forty years. This process will be difficult; however, it is the
most accurate way to obtain our needed information.
We will access VA public records.
By accessing VA public records we will be able to obtain information relating to
veteran healthcare and educational benefits.
Visiting the USO of charlotte
We will visit the USO of Charlotte at the airport to speak with volunteers on what
their experience with veterans has been. We will have a list of questions to ask them.
Interview of veterans
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte has slightly over 750 student veterans,
we will interview new age veterans as well as seasoned veterans. We will attempt to
get at least one veteran from each decade 1976-2016.

Laws
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 The public library and Atkins library have a wealth of knowledge on laws for our
city that are centralized around veterans. We will use this to our advantage. We will
use the internet for a portion of this topic as well.
General
There are many veteran owned businesses in the Charlotte metro area, as well as
non-profits. Through email we will reach out to them for information about the
above subtopics.
4. Method of presentation
For our presentation we will use power point with a handout to go along with the power
point.
- The PowerPoint will have vital information to the topic and subtopics
- The handout will have stats and useful information for the audience to have a better
connection to the material during the presentation and after.
5. Who will do what
We decided as a team that no one person would responsible for a topic alone. We each
will research each topic together until we felt like we have gotten every bit of viable
information to give to our audience. We will work hand in hand each step during this
project.
6. Timeline of research
Week One
- Economy
- February 8th-12
- Curtis will find statistical data for veterans for the city of Charlotte
- Chris will find statistical data for civilians for the city of Charlotte
- Thuy will find national statistical data for the nation as a whole
Week two
- Feb 15-19
- Housing and mortgage rates
- Curtis will define what the VA loan is and how it benefits veterans
- Chris will define the benefits of a traditional mortgage
- Thuy will define the better of the two overall
Week three
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Feb 22-26
Laws that affect veterans
Curtis will find city laws
Chris will find state laws
Thuy will find national laws

Week four
- Feb 29-March 4
- Education/health care
- Curtis and Chris will gather all information about this topic and come together to
collaborate.
Week five
- March 5-11
- General overview
- We will each find something we found interesting about our veterans. It will pertain
to the city of Charlotte only
Week six-eight
- We will take this time to iron out the details and clean up our project.
- We will also come together and share our annotated bibliography adding any more
useful information to our project.