(Washington, D.C. – April 11, 2018) GirlTrek, the largest national public health nonprofit and movement for Black women and girls, is taking its message of radical self-care and healing on the road in a yearlong, 50-stop national tour called, “Road to Selma.” “Road to Selma” is a national wellness revival set to begin this Spring with stops in Atlanta, Essence Festival, Las Vegas, The Roots Picnic, Oakland, AfroPunk, and more.
Factors like chronic poverty, the stress of underemployment and unsafe streets, and cultural norms that value service above self-care have all contributed to Black women engaging in fewer leisure-time physical activities. As a result, 82% of Black women are overweight, 59% are obese, and they die from preventable diseases at higher rates and younger ages than any other group of women in this country. GirlTrek believes the solution to this health crisis is simple: Daily walking has been proven to reduce the risk factors of obesity. GirlTrek uses walking as that first, practical step in helping a woman begin her journey to overall improved health and wellness.
The “Road to Selma” tour will include storytelling, sweat, self-care and sisterhood. GirlTrek team members and/or volunteers will lead each “Road to Selma” event. Select sessions will be led by GirlTrek cofounders T. Morgan Dixon and Vanessa Garrison.
“What we are doing is creating a bright and beautiful new culture of physical activity to disrupt disease in the highest-need communities in the United States,” said, T. Morgan Dixon, GirlTrek cofounder.
By 2020, GirlTrek’s goal is to mobilize one million Black women to walk — at lifesaving levels — to reverse the devastating impacts of chronic illness and obesity.
To reach one million Black women, GirlTrek will organize and train 10,000 of the most committed women as a new vanguard of public health activists, the largest corps of Black public health professionals in the U.S. They will serve as healthy role models across the nation using practical skills and an unwavering sense of purpose to recruit new walkers, eliminate structural and policy barriers to health, and lead local events that set the standard for healthy communities.
“GirlTrek will walk in the footsteps of a civil rights legacy. Over the next three years, we will train 10,000 everyday women to serve as frontline health activists. The teach-ins and events will all culminate next year, on sacred ground, in Selma, Alabama,” Dixon said. “When I think of people power, I close my eyes and see images of women walking on the sidewalks of Montgomery in the bus boycotts. I see women crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. GirlTrek is reestablishing walking as a transformative tradition in Black communities as an effective solution to the current health crisis.”
GirlTrek’s “Road to Selma” culminates with “Summer of Selma,” scheduled for May 24-27, 2019. Inspired by the teach-ins of the Civil Rights Era, “Summer of Selma” will be a three-day immersive experience divided into three parts: skills training, a “Woodstock-style” music festival and a trek that will retrace the historic 54-mile Selma to Montgomery route. Think old-school tent revival meets Wanderlust and Coachella.
“Road to Selma” events require advanced registration. Sneakers are required for all activities. Pop-up events and new city stops may be added. The “Road to Selma” was launched on the TED stage on April 11, 2018 as part of the Audacious Project. Visit girltrek.org for more information.
WHO: GirlTrek is the largest public health movement and nonprofit for Black women and girls in the United States.
WHAT: “Road to Selma” is a national wellness revival powered by GirlTrek.
WHEN: Set to begin this spring, “Road to Selma” will last 12 months culminating with “Summer of Selma,” scheduled for May 24-27, 2019.
WHERE: Atlanta, Essence Festival, Las Vegas, The Roots Picnic, Oakland and AfroPunk are among tour stops. Pop-up events and new city stops will be added regularly to the tour.
HOW: Follow along on social media using the hashtag #RoadtoSelma.
About GirlTrek:
GirlTrek was founded by T. Morgan Dixon and Vanessa Garrison. The two friends met in Los Angeles as college students. GirlTrek encourages women to use walking as a practical first step to inspire healthy living, families, and communities. In five years, GirlTrek has mobilized more than 150,000 Black women and girls nationwide. GirlTrek’s goal is to motivate 1 million Black women and girls to walk for better health by 2020. Cofounders, Vanessa Garrison and T. Morgan Dixon took the GirlTrek story to the global stage at TED 2017: Walking as a revolutionary act of self-care.