New Yorkers Helping New Yorkers…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of New Yorkers came together to form Sober Active New York. While liquor stores were open and bars served “to go” drinks, gyms, yoga studios, CrossFit boxes and other fitness centers were forced to close. Our founders came together and began sponsoring workouts in New York City parks followed by a twelve-step meeting. All workouts and other events were free and most filled to capacity.  Folks who have participated in our events include those who identity as alcoholics, addicts, trauma survivors, people who suffer from PTSD, anxiety, depression and/or compulsive behaviors.  We welcome anyone who identifies as a person who has overcome trauma.

Since that time, in addition to our Sober Active NYC’s free workouts and events, the Sober Active Foundation was formed. Among the Foundations’ goals:

- To offer free training and certification in professions including personal training, yoga etc., in communities of color too often ignored, with an emphasis in the seven neighborhoods in New York City that contribute to the disproportionate number of inmates to state prison.

- To assist individuals we train to be enrolled in a one-year “apprentice” program with our partners in the not-for-profit and government sectors.  This one-year apprentice program will enable participants to hone and develop their skills, as a professional including showing up on time, being well-respected and how they can motivate others.

- Once the apprentice program is successfully completed, we will offer assistance to those we train (“the apprentices”) and help to place them in paid jobs in both the private and public sectors. 

Social Justice & the Sober Active Movement

We seek to play a role in reversing the impact of long-time discriminatory patterns in New York City and around the country. We also seek to provide healthy coping mechanisms to those stuck in the inter-generational cycle of trauma that often accompanies poverty and racism. Although we serve all communities in New York City, our priority is to play an active role in the neighborhood’s in New York City where our work is most needed. It is a tragedy that almost 80% of inmates in New York State Prisons come from seven neighborhoods in New York City. These neighborhood’s are the Lower East Side, Harlem, the South/Central Bronx, South Jamaica, East New York and Bedford-Stuyvesant. Check out our video on how we hope to help reverse this trend. If you live, work or advocate for folks living in these neighborhoods, let’s collaborate and work together for positive change!

Fitness icon, David Barton - Co-Founder of Sober Active NYC & The Sober Active Foundation

  • Sober Active NYC was founded by real New Yorkers who came together to create a community of like-minded people and develop free programming to cope with the trauma and stress of COVID 19 during the lockdown in 2020.

  • Because the gift of sobriety and sanity is a gift that we want to share with others, we organized events in NYC and sought out diverse local groups that are vision and value aligned.

  • We hope to continue to share the gift of the sober active movement with others by inspiring them to create their own local groups. We helped launch Sober Active Canada in 2019 and are looking to help others form and then fund their own grassroots groups. Email us for more information on how you can collaborate with us or start your own group.