Pounding the pavement to change a community, health outcomes - chicagotribune.com: ...Whitaker is one of nearly 1,000 African-American women in the Chicago region who joined Black Girls RUN!, a growing grass-roots movement to inspire women of color to take up distance running.
The concept started as a blog. Last year, the mission was extended to running groups around the country in an attempt to tackle obesity, particularly among African-American women. The group is informal, and joining requires no fees, registration or paperwork. The women simply sign up to be alerted electronically about runs in their neighborhoods and show up to exercise together.
While the main objective is physical fitness, the movement also pushes black women to reclaim their communities by inaugurating a healthy activity that is not normally seen in some neighborhoods.
