On a nippy Saturday morning on Line Ave, the fresh smell of espresso from Rhino Coffee mixed with the soft hum of shoes hitting the sidewalks. A group of post-grads, med students, 20-year-olds, and residents gathered at Pure Barre to simply walk, talk and explore Shreveport together.
Carol Ann Dominick, the host of Shreveport Steps, shared her experience and how she is growing a community one step at a time.
After moving back from Baton Rouge, Carol Ann found it difficult to find a community outside of her teaching job. She explained that “it's hard meeting people, especially post-grad, you're working all the time." She was inspired by the walking groups in Dallas and Baton Rouge, so she thought “Okay, if they have that, then Shreveport could do it too.”
Carol Ann wanted to build a fun approach for getting to know people.
While she had considered names like “Shreveport Strides,” she ultimately chose a name that grounds them in the community and individualizes itself from other running clubs in the city. She wanted a label that made it evident what their mission is, and it just “came out” as Shreveport Steps. The purposeful naming paid off as they started with 25 strangers and now have an expanding twice-weekly movement.
What started as a summer project for a new teacher has now grown to a larger community. Carol Ann started her walking initiative through posts on social media, flyers around town and word-of-mouth. She told herself, “if five people come, great,” but she surpassed that with 25 walkers at her first event. As they continuously grow with each walk, she has many ideas for the future and is excited that people are already hearing about it online.
Pure Barre, next to Uptown Rhino, hosted one Shreveport Steps event. Pure Barre is a facility that teaches low-impact, high-intensity full-body group fitness workouts. Juliet Vowels, the Barre manager, was eager about hosting. She is looking for a way to reach students and younger audiences. Carol Ann has been grateful to these local businesses, and stated “people have reached out wanting to host and finding a date.”
Walks are deliberately planned around safe, scenic, and accessible routes. Carol Ann says she always makes sure there is “some type of mingling opportunity after.” She wants to build a possibility for people to hang out, get to know each other, and of course, shop. She makes certain that there is “either a pop-up shop or a restaurant available.”
Her goal is to keep walkers engaged after the route and introduce themselves in the community.
Carol Ann believes in outreach, charity and giving back to the community. Every two months, Shreveport Steps does a charity event. When talking about a previous event they carried out, she stated that “it's not required, but it's just encouraged so people bring boxes of cereal or something like that to help.”
This past August, they held a back-to-school drive and collected school supplies for young students who are local to Shreveport. Next, they are planning a food bank for Thanksgiving.
Shreveport Steps offers a low-pressure, simple opportunity for college students who often feel stuck in the “campus bubble” to explore their city. Carol Ann explained that the group is organized to help people make connections, feel encouraged to exercise, and “get out of their shell” in an especially digital era. She states that it is a way to “Put your phone down and go exercise with strangers for an hour."
Students from LSUS, Centenary, and BPCC are starting to see the vision. The walking group is building a bridge between campus life and the larger Shreveport community.
Carol Ann believes there is so much potential in Shreveport, she states, “we have so many people coming here and not a lot of people want to stay.” Her goal is to create a group that makes opportunities for residents to want to work out, support local businesses and support their city.
When discussing the future of Shreveport Steps, Carol Ann stated that she wants to build “something that can continue on for a long time.” She emphasized the importance of getting to know your neighbors in a world where nobody will knock on doors and introduce themselves.
The Shreveport Steps walking initiative is encouraged for all ages, men and women, and kids of all fitness levels “to continue building community in Shreveport." Find out more upcoming information about Shreveport Steps and their next events at @shreveport_steps on Instagram.