Nutrition & Obesity Publications
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.