One year after opening its doors to the public, the Impact Center for the Carolinas is being celebrated by community leaders as both a practical resource hub and a growing symbol of LGBTQ+ resilience.
The Carolinas LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce marked the anniversary Saturday during its “Mimosas with Meaning” celebration at the Impact Center on Queen City Drive in Charlotte.
Originally launched in May 2025, the nearly 2,900-square-foot facility was designed as a public-facing space where entrepreneurs, nonprofits, professionals and community organizations could gather, work and collaborate. The center includes co-working space, meeting areas, nonprofit incubation suites, training facilities and a Wi-Fi lounge.
Chad Turner, president and CEO of the Chamber, said the anniversary reflects the organization’s broader effort to create a physical home for its regional work across the Carolinas.
“While we have our offices here, about 90 percent of the space belongs to the public,” Turner said. “They can use co-working, the Wi-Fi lounge, the training area [and] the nonprofit incubation suites.”
The Chamber currently operates across 90 counties in North Carolina and South Carolina through seven regional networks, including Charlotte Metro, Gate City, Twin City, Blue Ridge, Midlands, Lowcountry and Grand Strand. The organization serves more than 600 members and nearly 40 corporate partners while supporting thousands of small businesses through educational programming, networking and access-to-capital initiatives.
Turner said the Chamber has grown approximately 28 percent over the last year and a half and engaged more than 5,600 small businesses in the past year alone.
Victoria Green, vice chair of the Chamber’s Board of Directors, said the Impact Center has become especially important during a time when many LGBTQ+ people and organizations are looking for stable and affirming community spaces.
“I think it’s a safe space,” Green said. “It’s important to have a dedicated place where people can come, they can have their meetings, they can learn.”
Green, a retired Air Force veteran who joined the Chamber after moving to Charlotte in 2017, said the center provides an environment where people can connect openly while also supporting LGBTQ+ businesses and professionals.
“I think it’s more important now than ever,” she said.
The space has also become home to several community organizations, including the Freedom Center for Social Justice.
Executive Director Cameron Pruette said the shared environment has strengthened collaboration between advocacy groups, nonprofits and community partners.
“The Freedom Center for Social Justice work is collaborative,” Pruette said. “We work in coalitions with so many different partners and being in the Impact Center has only made that easier.”
Pruette said the center has helped organizations respond to growing financial and political challenges facing LGBTQ+ groups nationally.
“Every LGBTQ-serving and advocacy org right now is struggling,” Pruette said. “Funding is being cut. Corporate partners are abandoning us, and so we have to get scrappy. We have to get creative.”
Pruette said the Impact Center has created opportunities for organizations to share resources, reduce costs and strengthen coalition-building efforts.
“We’re working together, we’re living together, we’re building together,” Pruette said.
Chamber leadership says the next phase of the Impact Center will focus on expanded educational programming, workforce development and broader community use of the facility. Turner said the organization recently renamed its affiliated foundation the Impact Center of the Carolinas Foundation as part of its long-term vision for the space.
Pruette said they hope the center continues evolving into a larger shared hub for LGBTQ+ organizations and community life in the Carolinas.
“I would love to see us continue to make our own version of an LGBT center,” Pruette said. “Make our own version of being together.”