Thrive Liberation Community Center

About Thrive Liberation Community Center

Thrive Liberation Community Center is a nonprofit organization based in Charlotte, NC, with a mission to create a safe haven for Black youth and young adults to gather, learn, heal, and be.

We believe that thriving, not just surviving, is essential to building a better world. At Thrive, we don’t start with programs; we start with people. Our work is rooted in relationships, healing, and the idea that civic leadership doesn’t have to come at the cost of your well-being. Instead of asking our community to push through exhaustion, we ask: What would it look like to build power from a place of clarity, connection, and care?

We serve Black youth and young adults who are often left out of traditional civic spaces, not because they don’t care, but because they are overwhelmed, under-resourced, or disconnected from the systems around them. Many are students, artists, organizers, first-time voters, or emerging leaders who have been navigating the pressure of being Black in spaces never designed for their thriving. Thrive exists to change that.

Our Approach: Civic Wellness as a Strategy for Liberation

We define our work as civic wellness, the emotional, spiritual, and structural conditions people need to fully participate in civic life. Civic wellness is the antidote to the burnout, isolation, and hopelessness that so many Black youth feel today.

Through healing-centered programming and accessible civic tools, Thrive is creating a new model of community-rooted leadership. Our programming doesn’t just inform, it restores, reconnects, and empowers.

Our Programs

• Sunday Fellowship: A bi-monthly dinner series that brings Black youth and young adults together to share a meal, build relationships, and engage in joyful, intergenerational conversation around purpose, community, and civic life.

• Ballot Breakdown Videos: Short, accessible videos that break down what’s on the ballot during local, state, and federal elections—helping young voters understand the power of their vote and how systems work.

• Safe Space (Launching Spring 2026): A healing-centered decompression space for high school students, launched in partnership with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, focused on belonging, emotional well-being, and leadership identity.

• Advocacy Academy (Launching Spring 2026): A 10-week experience that builds civic literacy, organizing skills, and confidence through youth-led issue campaigns and systems navigation.

• Civic Engagement Curriculum (Pilot phase launching this year): A culturally grounded curriculum that will be available to schools, churches, and youth-serving organizations—helping expand Thrive’s reach while generating sustainable revenue.

Our Why

Black youth and young adults are not disengaged because they don’t care; they are exhausted from systems that were never built for them. Thrive meets them at the intersection of healing and power. We build civic imagination, not just civic knowledge. We offer spaces where young people can decompress, reconnect, and reimagine what it means to lead.

We are building a future where thriving is the baseline, not the exception.

Why Give 8/28 Matters

Give 8/28 is a national day of giving in support of Black-led organizations. Your support comes at a critical moment: Thrive is in its first year of programming, backed by two years of planning, community relationship-building, and leadership development. We’ve laid the foundation—and now we’re ready to grow.

Your donation will help us:

• Host our first Sunday Fellowship events across Charlotte

• Launch our Safe Space pilot with local high school students

• Finalize and share our civic engagement curriculum

• Expand our ballot literacy tools in time for the upcoming elections

• Develop the infrastructure to grow Thrive into a citywide—and eventually statewide—movement

Every dollar goes toward building a more joyful, just, and liberated civic future.

Help Us Thrive

We are more than a nonprofit, we are a movement for wholeness, dignity, and power. When you give to Thrive, you’re investing in a generation of Black youth and young adults who are ready to heal, grow, and lead. Not from burnout—but from brilliance.

Follow us at @thrivelcc and visit thrivelcc.org to learn more, or check out our latest impact report here.

Join us this Give 8/28—and help make thriving the norm.