Emergency housing stabilization, delivered in 72 hours.
Eviction is one of the most destabilizing events a family can experience, and one of the most preventable. The reason most families don't avoid it is not because help doesn't exist. It's because the system can't move at the pace of a missed paycheck. Grata Connects can.
We have built direct relationships with rental housing agencies and landlords across all three counties we serve, so when a tenant or property manager calls, we are already at the table. For qualifying families, we work directly with the landlord to reach a resolution within three days thus stabilizing the family and stopping the eviction process.
Then the harder work begins. Once housing is stabilized, we step in to assess the full picture, connect the family to the agencies and partners best suited to support them, and walk alongside them through every step that follows. The goal is not just to prevent an eviction. It is to begin a real journey toward long-term stability.
We don't run this like a traditional nonprofit.
We are entrepreneurs by wiring. We identify gaps, build systems, prove results, and iterate relentlessly until people's lives change for the better. We don't wait for people in need to find help. We find them, and we walk with them on their path to stability. We build supportive connections with existing agencies and work within their existing systems with the goal of improving efficiency and positive outcomes for all involved. Leveraging resources within our community: wisdom, time, and money is a cornerstone of our work.
Question. Think. Plan. Act.
Every program starts with a real challenge. We design, act, measure, and refine, with people's long term stability as the bottom line.
Leverage every asset.
Our community is well-resourced but siloed. We act as connective tissue, linking people in need to agencies, volunteers, and neighbors.
We Track everything.
Stability is an outcome we can measure. We collect anonymized data on every interaction and share it weekly so our community can see what is and is not working.
We see your strength before we see your struggle.
We live in a culture that frames hardship as failure and struggle as deficit. That framing is wrong, and it causes real harm to the people trying hardest to get back on their feet.
The people Grata Connects serves make the decision to keep going every single day. Our job is to make sure that decision leads somewhere.
From that experience comes a unique starting point: we begin by honoring the path each person has walked to the moment we meet them. We meet them where they are, connect them to what they need, and walk alongside them every step of the way.
The Innovation Lab.
A nonpartisan, student-led research arm that bridges the gap between campus and community, turning research into real-world change for our region. The Innovation Lab partners with UNC and high school students to study pressing community issues, develop policy briefs, and design new programs. Not academic theory. Outputs that go directly into the hands of local leaders, county officials, and frontline staff.
Through project-based teams, students gain hands-on experience in policy research, data analysis, and community engagement. Each team partners with local stakeholders, refines findings through mentorship, and delivers professional-grade work that drives real decisions.
