Do Greater Charlotte To Launch 20,000-Sq-Ft Youth Innovation Hub in 2026
The 20,000-square-foot space sits in Uptown Charlotte and aims to link young people with leaders who create and build new things.
Do Greater Charlotte will open its Creative Lab in 2026. The 20,000-square-foot space sits in Uptown Charlotte and aims to link young people with leaders who create and build new things.
Inside, students will find a screen printing facility. They'll work in an innovation and tech lab. A creative studio for making content fills out the space. Former mayor Harvey Gantt supports what organizers call an engine for opportunity.
Kelsey Van Dyke leads the effort as Director of Educational Innovation & Technology with the nonprofit. Last November, Van Dyke explained the Creative Lab's purpose to the Gambrell Foundation: giving Charlotte's young people "proximity to possibility."
"When young people see themselves in the center of the city, surrounded by creativity, business, and innovation, something clicks. They start to realize that these spaces aren't off-limits — they're theirs too," Van Dyke told the foundation. "The Creative Lab Uptown is about creating more of those moments, so these experiences aren't once-in-a-lifetime — they're the starting point."
Van Dyke is 34. She wants Charlotte to take young people more seriously, believing they bring ideas and insight that should shape the area right now — not years from now.
Do Greater Charlotte runs several programs each year for middle schoolers and teenagers, opening doors to creativity, technology, and ways to start businesses.
William McNeely founded the nonprofit and serves as CEO. He conceived the vision. Van Dyke has watched students who spent their entire lives in Charlotte but had never walked through Uptown until one of the programs brought them.
One student described walking into a corporate office for the first time as stepping onto a movie set — a moment that shifted how she pictured her future.
Van Dyke admits a big obstacle: the organization tackles ambitious work with tight budgets and small teams. The kind of change they pursue takes time.
"We're not just teaching skills, we're helping reshape how young people see themselves and what's possible for their futures," Van Dyke said in an interview with the Charlotte Observer. "We get to witness incredible moments of success, but the real transformation happens over years, not weeks."
