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“I told Jim that I really like coming here, it’s an amazing community,” Wolniakowski said. “But my money is very tight.”
JP CrossFit came to Wolniakowski with the solution: demand-based; A sliding-scale scholarship that reduces her membership fee.
The deal worked. Well, actually, Wolniakowski was able to move on from the plan and now works as a social worker and part-time trainer at JP CrossFit.
“If I hadn’t been able to reach that sliding scale, I wouldn’t have been able to keep going to that gym,” she says. “[JP CrossFit] They need to be really focused on equity and looking at their members and meeting their members where they are financially burdened.
The scholarship program has expanded since its inception to serve 13 members of the JP CrossFit community, says Jasmine Gerritson, a gym associate, “most of whom are people of color or queer or both. Head coach. “It has had a profound effect on our demographics.”
For a gym that prides itself on welcoming all athletes, improving access across racial and socioeconomic lines was a logical next step. A ten-year gym membership is older than is typical for CrossFit gyms (36 years on average), and 200 or more of its active members are part of the LGBTQ community. Still, its membership is largely white, middle-class — a demographic that has dominated CrossFit in the United States since its inception 20 years ago. Now there is hope to change that.
Gerritson said the gym was intentional in inviting more people of color, low-income and trans people to better reflect the makeup of the surrounding Jamaica Plain neighborhood.
“I know these people are here. Why don’t you show up? What are the obstacles? ” Gerritson, who is Latina and comes from a low-income background, said she asked herself as she built the framework for the scholarship program. “In my own experience, money is a big obstacle.”
Consideration should be given to those who need a reduced fee and must come to the gym at least two or three times a week. Employees will check in with them every six months to see if the price they’re paying is still working for them, if they need more discounts, or if they can contribute more.
But JP CrossFit doesn’t want gym-goers to feel like they’re paying for membership, so it’s anonymous who’s on the sliding scale scholarship.
The program isn’t JP Crossfit’s only economic initiative to increase access. It also hosts weekend classes open to anyone for $5, allows members to pause payments (for example, if they’re going to be out of town for a few weeks) and offers discounts to first-year teachers and social workers, AmeriCorps service members, paramedics and firefighters.
“After removing the financial barrier, the next challenge is to get people to see each other. You know, not having one black person in the classroom, because that’s very uncomfortable,” Gerritson said, adding that coaches are also looking to hire more staff of color.
Damaria Joynar could be that coach. Joynar, who is black and currently on a sliding scholarship, said entering the JP Crossfit coaching program is my next step because I am inspired and feel like my community deserves this experience.
Jaron St. Onge, associate professor of sociology and population health at the University of Kansas, examines how the social determinants of health affect disparities along racial, class, gender, and geographic lines.
“What’s important to maintain all health behaviors is social support,” and isolated people often have trouble finding that support, he said. “It’s got to be a team effort, and it’s the same thing when you get into physical activity, that idea of feeling responsible for someone or feeling responsible for a team. In my understanding, this is exactly how CrossFit works. It is a social issue.
At the beginning of a recent afternoon class, Gerrisen asked everyone to share their names, adverbs and the highlight of their weekend: one gym aficionado enjoyed Christmas shopping with his son, another lit a menorah for Hanukkah, a third at a dog race. For the folks at JP CrossFit, the idea is that knowing a little about the person next to you makes a big difference. Four rounds every day Workout, as they struggle on the pull-up bar, class participants encourage each other, praising form and progress while pulling up for breath.
“It’s not scary, that’s the beauty of JP CrossFit,” said Michelle Flynn, 47, who has been coming to the gym for a year and a half.
Gym owner Logan Miller says he grew up “socially isolated,” so fostering this sense of belonging among members is important to him. Additionally, Miller said, being financially flexible with members is good business sense.
“If we are loyal to our customers, our customers will be loyal to us,” he said, adding that the average length of membership at JP CrossFit is three years. “It’s based on a sense of loyalty. If people are so deeply involved in the community, why should they hurt us for being generous? That’s not all the community does. The community supports each other.
Julian EJ Sorapuru is a Development Associate at Globe and can be reached at julian.sorapuru@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter. @JulianSorapuru
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