YWCA Northeast Indiana’s Third Annual Race Against Racism 5K Walk/Run Event!

The Race Against Racism provides an opportunity for the community to come together in solidarity for racial justice. Our 2024 theme was “Ally Up!” and we focused on building allies to help shape our community’s youth, creating a more inclusive future. With your support, we raised over $23,000 for racial justice! We could not have done it without our sponsors, donors, volunteers, community partners, and attendees! Race participants received a “Couch to 5K” training plan (created by Lynn Marbach and endorsed by Three Rivers Running Company) to prepare for the event, and education and engagement about allyship was offered leading up to the event and at the event. Building a more just and equitable community takes all of us, so YWCA gave community members the opportunity to run the race against racism, together.

The Race Against Racism 5K Walk/Run raises funds for YWCA’s racial justice efforts, which include community events and organizing, assessing community priority areas for racial justice, working with BIPOC-led groups, and developing educational content to share with Fort Wayne and the northeast Indiana community.

---

Recap

Our third annual Race Against Racism 5K Walk/Run was a huge success! YogaSix hosted a pre-race stretch and there was an award ceremony post race where we presented medals to the overall winner in each gender category. We also awarded the top finished in each age group and gender category with certificates. Huge thanks to Julian Teekaram with 21Alive for being our emcee! We also introduced our inaugural Pup Run Championship! Local organizations joined us and shared about their work in our community. Race participants received an “allyship passport” which they could take table to table collecting signatures. Completed passports were entered into a drawing for a prize. 3RRC gift cards were donated for top finishers and for the passport drawing. We had almost 300 individuals registered for the event! Thank you to all the individuals and community partners that attended and volunteered at our event!