Formerly known as A-Town Athletes as Leaders, EmpowHer & Move is a non-profit summer program that equips high-school aged women in Anderson Township and Newtown, OH with strong leadership skills, while simultaneously experiencing several different forms of exercise through fitness studio visits in the local community. We believe strongly in the powerful spark that ignites when personal empowerment and body movement connect within an uplifting women-supporting-women community!
Program History
The concept was originally born in 2019 during a coffee shop chat between a local business owner and a non-profit director who share a passion for youth female empowerment. That summer, the program officially launched in Anderson Township and combined leadership development lessons with a running training program. In its inaugural year, participants trained for either the 4-mile or Half Marathon distance Queen Bee races in Cincinnati.
Then, COVID.
Every story has a “COVID” chapter, and ours is no different. Funny thing is, it only made us stronger. Ends up, we liked organizing our own “race day” in our local community, in the absence of mass organized race events due to COVID restrictions. We stayed outside, safe, and connected – lifting each other up through our weekly leadership lessons and training runs.
Then in the summer of 2021, we introduced a few new forms of exercise to the group – barre, yoga, and strength training. We also introduced a walking group option, as we were learning that running was not the exercise of choice amongst high school girls who weren’t already committed to cross country.
In 2022, we incorporated even more fitness studio visits into the program – adding Pilates and dance into the mix. Experiencing various forms of exercise was a BIG win, and we could see the future of the program evolving. It didn’t matter if we were running, walking, lifting, barre’ing, or dancing – what mattered is that we were moving our bodies and nourishing them with exercise. “Body movement” was the standout theme.
We threw a lot of spaghetti on the wall the first four summers, and now we know what stuck. Female-centered leadership development + body movement.
And in 2023, EmpowHer & Move was officially formed as a non-profit entity in the state of Ohio, powerfully combining young women’s leadership development topics with various forms of body movement in a supportive and uplifting community! The rest of the story has yet to be written… Stay connected and contact us to get involved!