By Cheryl R. Waide
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – More than 300,000 Black women have exited the U.S. workforce in recent months, and Black women’s unemployment has surged to historic levels, leaving many seeking healthy, holistic outlets to rebuild confidence, community, and wellness.
In South Florida, GirlTREK: South Florida is stepping in—offering a movement that fuses health, sisterhood, and healing through daily walking. GirlTREK is the nation’s largest nonprofit and health movement for Black women and girls, and it recently achieved its boldest goal: inspiring one million Black women across America to walk.
Since its founding, GirlTREK has defined walking 30 minutes a day, five days a week, as an act of radical self-care—a step toward reversing chronic disease, building community, and reclaiming neighborhoods.
“All of this is a grassroots prescription for what Black women need right now: connection, care, and collective healing,” said Vanessa Garrison, co-founder of GirlTREK. “We are creating a culture of care rooted in the radical belief that Black women deserve connection, healing, and joy. These are not just wellness initiatives, they are strategic interventions to combat the isolation, inactivity, and injustice shortening our lives. In a time when systems are failing us, we are choosing each other,” she continued. “We are walking forward together, building the future we deserve, one step, one sister, one city at a time.”
GirlTREK: South Florida is launching a regional push to grow its crew-based walks across neighborhoods. The goal is simple but powerful: invite women who have lost work or are underemployed to join free walking crews for accountability, movement, and care. Leaders in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and surrounding areas are ready to meet daily or weekly, offering a low-cost, accessible wellness intervention.
Walking crews, sometimes called “Field Fridays,” create space for shared stories, peer support, and momentum—not framed as therapy but as collective action for health. Over time, participants report lowered blood pressure, weight loss, fewer medication needs, and a renewed sense of contribution and joy.
In 2020, GirlTREK met its audacious goal of mobilizing one million Black women to walk. Now, it is leveraging that critical mass to build neighborhood health infrastructure, advocate for safer walking spaces, and support a culture where Black women’s longevity is nonnegotiable.
GirlTREK also recently rolled out The Underground—a mobile app designed as a wellness ecosystem, free of surveillance and algorithmic stress, where women can track solidarity, listen to guided walks, and connect with crews across the country.
Women interested in joining a crew or starting a walk team in South Florida can visit www.girltrek.org. No cost, no judgment—just the next step toward healing.
About GirlTREK
GirlTREK is a global movement of Black women leveraging the historic legacy of walking and the power of self-care as a pathway to heal and transform lives.
