About Us
The Origin
With the combination of a global pandemic and civil unrest around racial injustice, June of 2020 set the stage for important societal and human issues to finally come to light in a more permanent way. This was the same time that two friends, Justin and Tyler, decided they wanted to take action to make a difference in the injustices and inequality we see in our communities.
The week of George Floyd’s passing, Justin called Tyler voicing his frustration from Floyd’s murder and subsequent reactions, and they joined forces to do a running challenge that very weekend (4x4x48, David Goggins inspired) that entailed running 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours. A GoFundMe was set up to collect funds from friends and family throughout the running challenge to donate to help support racial justice.
What started as a way to take the mind off of the pressure cooker of injustice resulted in a massively successful and attention-grabbing fundraiser—a total of $60k donated to Campaign Zero, and an idea to keep the fight for justice and change going through a nonprofit, which Tyler and Justin named 48 For Change.
Our Mission
We are a group of friends who want to help open the doors of opportunity for everyone. We recognize that systemic inequalities underlie our society. We want to be a catalyst for positive change, promoting healthy lifestyles and fighting for equality in every sector.
Our goal is to 1) raise awareness and educate others about social injustice and issues happening in our very own communities, 2) provide opportunities to change situations of injustice or inequality, and 3) use running as the main connector and platform for this education and change.
The fight for opportunity can only be won on the front lines, connecting communities through conversation. We are dedicated to the fight. We are stronger together. Run with us.
How Can Running Create Change?
We believe that running provides a common ground that has the power to connect all people. Unlike other sports or hobbies, running doesn't require a membership, equipment rental, or certain age or fitness level. Nearly every human learned to run as a child, when it was something that came out of play and freedom. We want to bring running back as an equalizer.
In order to start a run and finish it (no matter the pace or distance), it requires the runner to have grit, resilience, courage, humility, and a vision for a better future. These characteristics are the same traits that are required to create social change—in order to be able to sacrifice time and resources for your community, (and to understand how and why change + equality are necessary) grit, resilience, courage, humility, and a vision for a better future is required.
Bringing running into our lives more fully will enable us to be able to more fully create change as well.
“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.”
— Booker T. Washington