Across the Greater New Orleans region, many youth — especially those living in lower-income communities — lack consistent exposure and access to healthy ways of living at home, at school, or in their neighborhood. Gaps in healthy habits throughout youth can result in obesity or other long-term physical and mental health problems. Many young people could also benefit deeply from healthy relationships with a supportive peer network and positive role models. By partnering with schools and community sites, we believe we can help youth develop healthy habits for life through distance running. The individual act of putting one foot in front of the other instills the importance of endurance, focus, and committing to a goal. By participating with Youth Run NOLA year after year, our youth become addicted to this sense of accomplishment felt at each finish line and the love of their supportive teammates. Running becomes a metaphor for achieving goals. We believe the next generation should truly run this city. Youth Run NOLA is a locally grown non-profit organization that supports 10-18 year olds across St. Bernard, Orleans, and Jefferson Parishes. Guided by teacher-coaches at school and community-site chapters and volunteer running buddies at monthly races, our youth — many with little or no prior experience running — develop a commitment to healthy choices. Each week at practices, youth train alongside their coaches through a rigorous curriculum of sprint and distance workouts, nutrition and physiology education, and team-building.
