Maurelhena Walles Helping People Get Active In Underserved Communities
By: Alyssa Hernandez | WeINSPIRE Journalist
PEMBROKE, N.C. — Maurelhena Walles started her company Equity Design with the mission to close the gap between health, wealth and life expectancy. She does this by designing physical activity programming that uses an equity lens as well as data. Walles also participates in running track.
Courtesy of Maurelhena Walles.
“Let's say a community in the East Tremont section of the Bronx, the school, right, have the goal of becoming a fitness hub because their community is a physical activity desert. So, we work with them on what does that look like, what would be a fitness hub for elementary school students, their families and the community they like on an elementary school campus,” Walles said. “So, we designed the physical activity first for the teachers, now we're going to design it for the students and then we're going to design it for the community, so people don't know but if you think about it, Equity Design is like the architecture for physical activity programming.”
Equity Design provides programming for any business or organization regardless of location. Walles explained Equity Design goes where it is needed. Walles and her team do this by looking at where the community has disparities. They look at the community health profile. They then assess the problems as well as the barriers and how they can help that area. When an organization contacts them, they make a plan based on what the organization wants to achieve in addition to these other factors. This company also has a no-outs policy when it comes to activities, so everyone gets the same amount of physical activity.
Maurelhena Walles during a physical activity program. Courtesy of Maurelhena Walles.
“We're creating this all-inclusive communities that are fun, that are engaging and maybe expectations of the child, so even though we work with adults, all of our programming really impacts the youth,” Walles said.
Maurelhena Walles. Courtesy of Maurelhena Walles.
Equity Design’s programming expands past the youth, yet the activities work just the same. Walles used balloon volleyball as an example, explaining that with senior citizens they may focus more on hand-eye coordination while playing sitting down. She explained the same activity can be used with middle schoolers. The only difference being the middle schoolers are up and moving around.
“I'm able to with my team design a program that's for pre-K and then design it also for senior citizens. It’s really understanding how that age group or that target audience moves right. So, it could be that it's more in your chair right and it's more hand-eye coordination,” Walles explained. “So, we might do balloon volleyball, but everyone’s in their chair, right. Now that balloon volleyball can still be a game for middle schoolers, but they're standing and they're moving around a little bit more. So again, it goes back to understanding you want to get moving.”
Walles on a run. Courtesy of Maurelhena Walles.
Full Interview Here
