Breakthrough Girl's Running Club

More about Breakthrough Girl's Running Club

The community of East Garfield Park is generally isolated from the larger community of Chicago, though it sits less than 4 miles from the downtown Loop district. Breakthrough’s sports programs seek to end the isolation of young women in East Garfield Park from the larger Chicago community.

Using the relationships between volunteer coaches and young athletes, Breakthrough works to build networks of strong, supportive volunteers and staff around each participant. Oftentimes, these are among the few positive relationships participants will have with adults, and by connecting with multiple adults such as coaches and tutors on a weekly basis, Breakthrough believes young people have a much better chance of experiencing success while avoiding the pitfalls common in traditional one-to-one mentor relationships.

Breakthrough has found that through programs such as the girl’s softball, soccer, gymnastics and running clubs, young women in the community experience success and supportive relationships that give them the confidence to dream big dreams and expect to achieve their goals. Along with this increased confidence, the girls also build valuable connections with volunteers whose own personal networks often prove to be the life-changing connections necessary to building bridges between East Garfield Park and the wider Chicago community.