Creating a Full-time Volunteer Program Lead Position

Every Body Athletics - Portland Metro Area

The mission of Every Body Athletics (EBA) is to make a lasting impact on the physical, social, and emotional wellbeing of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD) through inclusive group exercise. EBA exists to combat the physical and social regression that often occurs in individuals with ID/DD in adulthood due to a lack of services. 

EBA runs weekly classes at various sites around the Portland Metro area for adults with ID/DD, involving adaptive exercises focused on participants’ specific fitness needs. Every class also places heavy emphasis on social strengthening, as each athlete is partnered with a high school, college, or adult-aged volunteer without disabilities who facilitate numerous social exercises along the way. Throughout class, athletes and teammates are given an array of adaptive exercises to complete together, each one coupled with a conversation prompt for the pair to work through to flex their social muscles as well.

EBA is for every body, which attracts athletes with a wide variety of strengths and needs. To accommodate this large spectrum, each exercise comes with 1-2 possible modifications to ensure that everyone can participate. The extended 1:1 time that athletes and teammates get together is the perfect accommodation for athletes whose behavioral needs often make it difficult for them to participate in a large group for a long period of time. This accessible and inclusive atmosphere means that EBA is often the place where many athletes get their only successful group interaction of the week.

EBA benefits participants without disabilities as well, leading to the development of a robust volunteer program comprised largely of students from nearly 20 local schools. EBA views this program as a way to foster authentic friendships among people of all abilities, and a means to grow brand new disability advocates- many of whom had no previous experience with disability- who can help spread the message of inclusivity in the community. Many alumni of the EBA Internship Program have gone on to pursue degrees and careers in the field of disability, pointing to their time with EBA as seminal in influencing their path.

EBA’s capacity to take on more athletes with disabilities directly correlates with the number of teammates enrolled in the volunteer program. 

To boost these numbers and help reduce a long wait list of participants, a new Volunteer Program Lead position was created with the help of a three-year grant from the JTMF Foundation. It’s projected this will allow EBA to increase the number of participating adults with ID/DD by nearly 100 athletes in the first year. JTMF is honored to support the ID/DD community and the wonderful work being done by EBA.