The Program
BMOREFIT Executive Director Jon A. Kaplan developed the BMOREFIT program in response to a community meeting on gang violence. Gangs provide a sense of purpose, support, and connection that most of us receive from a team, family, or loving friends. Jon wanted to recreate the sense of community and share the transformative power of fitness through a program that would also train youth to find purpose through a mobile career path in a growth industry. His first step was to apply for an OSI Foundation Grant, which he received in October 2008.
The major goals of the program are for the participants to become certified YMCA group fitness professionals, and go into their communities to help combat childhood obesity. The model we employ is to immerse participants in health and fitness practices and to expose them to the many professional opportunities in the fitness field through educational classes, field trips and guest speakers. BMOREFIT is dedicated to helping the students reach their professional goals, and will provide continued support to students as they become fitness ambassadors in their communities.
BMOREFIT is a creative response to several trends: fitness as a global growth industry, wellness as an increasingly central tool in preventive care, and obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and malnutrition as urgent challenges in urban communities. The BMOREFIT Academy is completely unique in that it will fill an unmet, urgent need by matching an underserved community of young, predominantly African American adults with a program made up of dedicated faculty, mentors and volunteers, state-of-the-art facilities, professional training materials, individual and group fitness and nutrition coaching, and a variety of externship and job placement opportunities. BMOREFIT will motivate and guide this pilot group of students to improve their own fitness and to obtain the education and skills necessary to become certified fitness professionals. They will ultimately give back to their communities through their newly obtained professional knowledge and experiences.
Learn more about Executive Director Jon Kaplan
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