This weekend, a group of women from across the city will gather at the Amay James Recreation Center on Lester Avenue to help clean it up. It’s the first of many projects the group plans to do in the community, making Charlotte more beautiful before the Democratic National Convention.

They hope the effort makes Charlotte better for the future, too.

There are benches to fix up, basketball lines to paint, mulch to lay and trails to clear.

"We're calling it 'divas in the dirt,'" Lisa Quisenberry said.

Quisenberry will be one of the more than 100 women at the Amay James Recreation Center doing the work. Budget cuts shut the center down two years ago. The county and school have worked to get it back open, and the volunteers will do the cleanup work.

They want to make Charlotte a better place for the DNC and for the future.

"We want to capture the excitement people are feeling about the convention and translate that into long-term gain for the community," Quisenberry said.

"If you get the energy and power of Charlotte women together, we can make a difference," Sandra Conway said.

Conway helped start the group, called DVAs, which stands for donors, volunteers and ambassadors. She said the host committee came to her, asking how women could get involved.

The group is what she and some other women came up with. They are engaging women to raise money for the DNC, but more importantly, working to give women the opportunity to do hands-on work in the city.

"Women like to do that. They like to do more than write a check. They like to get connected to each other, to a cause," Conway said.

The group hopes to get mothers, daughters and sisters out to volunteer this weekend to teach them the DNC isn't just about politics, it's about change.

"We're not red or blue -- we are making sure Charlotte does the best job," Conway said.

"It can create really great and wonderful things in the community," Quisenberry said.

DVAs said it has spoken to other national convention cities, and the grassroots effort is unique to Charlotte. So far, they have also started planning some community garden work.

They said all women are welcome to volunteer this weekend. They will be at the Amay James Recreation Center on Sunday from 3-5 p.m.

A similar nonpartisan group of young professionals is doing the same kind of thing. That group, GO CLT, kicked off Thursday night.

The two groups are working with the host committee on some legacy goals, including youth employment and civic education, healthy children, healthy families, promoting a broader, more inclusive local economy and  establishing new standards of community sustainability.

Both groups have Facebook pages:

Facebook.com/DVACharlotte

Facebook.com/GOCLT