Longtime YMCA board member Denny Hammack has been especially involved with the Johnston YMCA, which began as a project of the Johnston Mill in the early 1950s. The North Charlotte area, now known as North Davidson or NoDa, has undergone many changes since then – transitioning from a mill worker community to a significantly African American community, and then undergoing rapid gentrification early in the twenty-first century. After talking about his childhood experiences with his hometown YMCA, Mr. Hammack focused on the Johnston Y's outreach efforts into the surrounding lower-income neighborhoods, the financial challenges the branch faced, and the changes that took place as a more affluent group of residents moved into the area.