Spring/Summer 1997
Sisters Together Dance Event Promotes
Health and Physical Activity
To help black women "move more" in Boston's Dorchester, Mattapan, and
Roxbury communities, the Sisters Together coalition and the Codman
Square Health Center in Dorchester sponsored a "Learn Line and African
Dance" event on March 1, 1997.
"This event was very successful. Fifty women attended, and several women
requested the dance event be repeated," says Nellie Knight, community
coordinator for the pilot program.
One participant said she "did not realize exercise could be so much fun."
Another woman said she would "love to do this every week." Attendees
received prizes such as Sisters Together T-shirts, key chains,
and magnets and enjoyed healthy snacks between dance lessons.
Through such community outreach activities, Sisters Together coalition
members are encouraging black women, ages 18 to 35, to maintain their
weight by becoming physically active and eating healthy foods. The Sisters
Together coalition is helping to ensure sustainability of the program's
goals and objectives once the pilot ends.
More than a dozen community-based organizations have joined the Sisters
Together coalition to promote the "move more, eat better" messages.
Coalition members are involved in recruiting new members; assessing resources
and needs; cross-promoting events; collaborating in fund-raising; and
sharing knowledge, skills, and resources among members.
Coalition members have sponsored fitness walks, supermarket tours, and
talks given by prominent black women such as poet Maya Angelou. "Speakers
and events help give the campaign messages power and visibility among
black women in these Boston neighborhoods," says Kelley Chunn, communications
coordinator for Sisters Together.
Coalition members include the YWCA and YMCA, several local health and
fitness centers, the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, Head
Start, Operation Frontline, and BOND of Color (nutritionists). Coalition
members plan to continue recruiting churches, beauty salons, supermarkets,
and others to join the Sisters Together: Move More, Eat Better
campaign.
Sisters Together is a project of the Weight-control Information
Network(WIN) in conjunction with the Boston Obesity/Nutrition Research
Center, which includes representatives from the New England Medical Center,
the Harvard School of Public Health, and Tufts University School of Nutrition
Science and Policy. For more information on Sisters Together, contact
WIN at 1-800-WIN-8098.
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