This summer, 14 teens teamed up with Charlotte artist Georgie Nakima to paint a “Know Justice” mural on the side of the McCrorey YMCA on Beatties Ford Road. Nakima also designed and painted the branch’s basketball court with NBA 2K Foundations program last year.⁣

In June, the YMCA of Greater Charlotte was given $2M from the City of Charlotte to support the launch of the Youth and Teen Opportunity Centers. Centers across the city offered summer programs for children and teenagers and painting murals like this was part of that programming.⁣

“By partnering to launch the Youth and Teen Opportunity Centers, we are again showing our commitment to providing safe, supervised and productive development for our future leaders,” said Mayor Vi Lyles in a YMCA news release.

We’ll share more photos of other murals from the program soon. For now, enjoy some images of the McCrorey YMCA’s mural taken by Charlotte photographer Brooke Brown, including the featured image above.