James Dowell hasn’t always been a runner. He started casually, meeting up weekly with three to 10 people for neighborhood jogs in 2019. The group brought together Black men who wanted a challenge — and the healing that comes from moving your body. Some were avid runners, while others were totally new, like Dowell.
“I learned that I was able to do something that was so hard for me, and show up again,” Dowell said. “It gave me the encouragement to show up in other ways through life.”
By late spring of 2020, over 200 people of all stripes and athletic backgrounds had joined the running group, formally named “Prolyfyck Run Creww.” Part of the rapid growth was due to timing — people were yearning for a safe, fun outlet to exercise and socialize during the COVID-19 pandemic. But more than five years later, it’s still going strong.
The Black-led run crew takes off from the Jefferson School City Center. Participants walk, jog or run through historically Black and brown neighborhoods of Charlottesville. There are now different route lengths and multiple runs per week.
Prolyfyck has also started community outreach programs. Each year, the run crew holds a back-to-school-drive and distributes 200 to 300 pairs of free sneakers to kids. And when Dowell noticed that there were many “Little Free Libraries” along the most popular, 4.5 mile run crew route, his wheels started turning.
“I thought to myself, ‘What if we kind of replicated that model with nonperishable food items?'” he said.
Now, Prolyfyck has worked with public housing organizations along their run routes to install four food pantries and two feminine hygiene pantries.
“For the next 20 years, I hope that we’re able to sustain what we’re doing, continue to grow all of the outreach programs that we have. To continue to show up,” said Dowell. “When we come together to uplift these communities, we can be a better city together.”
Videography and editing by Zach Keifer. Produced by Atlee Webber.
The first step to creating our shared future is imagining it.
For Charlottesville Tomorrow’s 20th anniversary, we invited central Virginians to share their visions for the next 20 years.
