Across Charlotte's 173 NSAs, the quality of life is improving.  This has caused the standards for improving to a Stable and Threatened category to be raised higher.  Because of pre-existing deficiencies in older CWAC neighborhoods and concentrated public efforts to address these deficiencies, the rates of improvement in these neighborhoods have been much faster than the citywide average. Between 2002 and 2004, the number of Fragile NSAs dropped from 32 to 27. As the standard ("the bar") to move up from Fragile to Threatened status has been raised, the degree of improvement needed to make the transition between these categories has become tougher.  The evidence that five NSAs have made significant strides in improving neighborhood level quality of life is an important positive outcome.

 

During the same period, the number of Stable NSAs declined from 100 to 92.  This drop should not be seen as an absolute decline in neighborhood quality of life.  Rather, the neighborhood quality of life may be improving in these NSAs, but the rate of improvement was slower than the citywide average.

 

The increase in the Threatened neighborhood category, from 41 to 54, might seem troubling at first glance, but it should be considered in the context of:

With these contextual constructs, the increased number of Threatened NSAs represents a "snapshot" of NSAs that are not keeping pace with the citywide increase in quality of life and not evidence of widespread neighborhood decline.