Eco3’s Community Wellness Outreach Team aims to build community partnerships and collaborate with others to improve overall community health and wellness. The Arthritis Foundation’s University of Minnesota Extension Walk with Ease program is one partnership that has created wellness and community engagement opportunities in Lincoln Park, particularly for older adults.
Walk with Ease is a wellness program developed by the Arthritis Foundation that collaborates with community organizations to host six-week wellness classes and to promote community member engagement. Eco3’s Community Wellness Outreach Team is hosting the current Walk with Ease program, using the Lincoln Park Community Center basement as the walking ‘track’ and meeting space for classes.
Currently on week five of classes, the Walk with Ease program has an active group of 10 members, ages ranging from 64 to 100. The group meets every Tuesday and Thursday for community check-ins, flexibility exercises, walking intervals, nutrition demonstrations, and goal setting. Thursday classes entail breath work, meditation, and strength training in addition to the walking intervals, along with good music. After the official class ends after the six sessions, Ecolibrium3 will continue the Thursday sessions throughout 2025.
Walk with Ease participants spend an hour learning and conversing with other community members, moving their bodies, and engaging their minds
The collaboration between Eco3 and the Arthritis Foundation’s University of Minnesota Extension Walk with Ease program has made a positive impact on the participants in terms of consistent friendly community interaction and coming together for a shared goal of increasing walking frequency and fitness. All active members have also accepted the invitation to be ‘Wellness Ambassadors’ for Eco3’s future LNPK Grocery store, set to open by late Spring of 2025. This group will play a solid and vibrant role in Eco3’s vision for promoting resilience in terms of health, wellness, and food equity.
Thanks to this collaboration, Eco3’s Community Wellness Team and the Arthritis Foundation’s Walk with Ease program series are accomplishing the shared goal of serving the population of older adults in Lincoln Park and sustaining this service throughout the next year.
Special thanks to Community Wellness Outreach Team members Helen Davis, Sonali Bhikha, and Toussaint Stewart.