We Run Brownsville Wellness
We see our work as a way to advance advocacy around issues of equity and accessibility in order to effectively lead a robust and progressive community transformation from within.
Leader
Sheila Gordon
Location
Dumont Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11212
About the project
Our framework centers our pillars of wellness (P.O.W.) are physical, mental, social/emotional and financial. All must be considered simultaneously to attain and sustain our overall health. The fitness program, which we have converted to a virtual & in-person model, includes a diverse offering of cardio, strength training, yoga, HITT and Tabata workouts, Zumba and boxing classes. The WRB We Run Wellness Initiative, a pilot program, allows us to create an additional pathway for collective community care. This new initiative has been specifically designed to address the harmful effects of institutional and structural racism on mental health, which, in the wake of COVID-19 and COVID-1619, has intensified in Brownsville. Members participate in a variety of mindfulness practices including guided meditation and breathwork. In addition to the bi-monthly healing Circles we hold, community members will have to free individual and family counseling sessions from culturally reflective psychologists, social workers and licensed counselors. We will be scaling our efforts to the larger community and hope to expand the number of available hours to reach more of our neighbors. Finally, in partnership with the Central Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation and Community Board 16, we will be launching the Run Your Money initiative which will provide education and resources to activate entrepreneurship, home ownership and wealth building.
The Steps
Continue our virtual & in-person physical training
Scale mental health counseling sessions to include community members & organizations
Provide financial education and resources to activate entrepreneurship, home ownership and wealth building
Why we‘re doing it
We Run Brownsville’s (WRB) mission is to provide a judgment free, brave and liberated space for women of color in the community to take control of their health through adoption of a holistic approach to wellness through running, training, mindfulness practices, mental health counseling and nutritional & financial education. WRB strongly believes that a key factor in healing from racialized trauma begins with the calling out of racism as a root cause of the disproportionate impacts on Brownsville and as a debilitating outcome. Racism and racial trauma have a profound effect on mental health and is a dire public health crisis that warrants confrontation and compassion for collective community care.