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InnerCity Weightlifting volunteers find a sense of fulfillment by helping clients improve their fitness.<\/p>\n
When people think about treating or managing their mental health, therapy, journaling and reading are often among the first solutions that come to mind. While those are all valuable tools, one of the most effective outlets is often overlooked: physical fitness.<\/p>\n
At the Lift US Foundation<\/a>, based in Oakland, leaders emphasize the mental benefits of exercise for adolescents through a strength-training-focused approach. Through its partnership with the NBA Foundation<\/a>, the organization has expanded its efforts to empower young people and, as founder Mike Jenkins describes it, \u201ccreate superheroes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe need in the community is very foundational about strength and health in general, physical and mental,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cI locked in on a term I like to call generational health, and what that means is the young people in our program become the healthiest in their families, and they take those values going forward in their own.\u201d<\/p>\n As for InnerCity Weightlifting<\/a>, which is based in Boston and Chicago, the organization uses personal training to help people affected by systemic barriers and past challenges build a new path forward. The nonprofit helps individuals with histories of gang involvement earn personal training certifications before connecting them with paying clients.<\/p>\n Though some people may not want to pursue personal training full-time, ICW still provides them with fitness tools they can carry throughout life while also helping guide their next steps into the workforce.<\/p>\n \u201cLearn how to work out safely, learn how to give your friends a workout and then tell us what you need, what kind of jobs you\u2019re interested in, what\u2019s holding you back from some stability,\u201d said ICW\u2019s head of development Ian Kilpatrick.<\/p>\n Fitness to opportunity<\/p>\n From the ground up, Lift US focuses on teaching young people how to understand their bodies through fitness, nutrition education, counseling, mentorship and mental health support, all while helping them develop a future-focused mindset beyond the program.<\/p>\n Seeing a program participant progress through each phase and ultimately succeed is Lift US\u2019s ultimate goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rucker Johnson Jr. joined the organization at age 10 with a passion for science, art and drawing. Over time, he developed a love for weightlifting<\/a> as well, eventually earning a spot on Team USA and setting his sights on representing the country at the 2028 Olympic Games.<\/p>\n \u201cA complete human. A complete person, physically strong, mentally strong, academically strong, and not relying on getting a football or baseball scholarship. They are just doing it to empower themselves,\u201d Jenkins said.<\/p>\n