J. Claire Schuch is a Receptivity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement postdoctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She obtained her PhD in Geography and Urban Regional Analysis. As a member of the Mecklenburg Area Partnership for Primary Care Research (MAPPR), she worked for four years on a National Institute of Health-funded project about health disparities and access to primary care for underserved Hispanic immigrants in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. Her dissertation combined participatory action research and qualitative methods to explore and improve labor market opportunities for Latino/a youth. With financial support from the National Science Foundation, the Society of Woman Geographers and UNC Charlotte’s Chancellor’s Diversity grant, she engaged 36 youth participants and 3 research assistants in this project. Participants created a website (Youth ADAPT NC) as part of the action research component of the study. Claire currently works with the Levine Museum of the New South to enhance and evaluate the impacts of the museum’s exhibit NUEVOlution! Latinos in the South. Using a three-pronged dialogue approach, she examines how a wide variety of community members engage with the exhibit and its themes, with the overarching goal to create a more welcoming, inclusive community. Claire is originally from the Netherlands and came to the United States in 2007. She has also lived in England, Singapore, and Chile.
