Bull City Fit Together at Edison Johnson: Strength, Skills, and Healthy Habits for Durham Families
By: Matt Skinner, MS – Bull City Fit Coordinator
At Bull City Fit, we know that healthy routines do not begin and end in the doctor’s office. They are built in everyday places where families live, play, learn, cook, move, and spend time together.
That is why the partnership between Bull City Fit and Durham Parks and Recreation at Edison Johnson Recreation Center is so important.
Duke Healthy Lifestyles provides evidence-based care for children, adolescents, and young adults living with obesity and related health concerns, using a team approach that includes medical, nutrition, exercise, and mental health support. Bull City Fit extends that care into the community by offering free, family-centered wellness programming where children and caregivers can be active together, learn practical skills, and build confidence outside of the clinic setting. Duke Health describes Bull City Fit as a free, community-based wellness program for Duke Healthy Lifestyles patients and their families, offered through partnership with the City of Durham.
At Edison Johnson Recreation Center, that model comes to life.
Families come through the doors not just for exercise, but for connection. They find a welcoming space where movement can be fun, cooking can feel approachable, and health goals can become shared family goals. A child may try strength training for the first time. A caregiver may learn a new way to prepare a vegetable. Siblings may join in a game, a fitness challenge, or a cooking activity. Volunteers, medical students, residents, clinic staff, and community partners all help create an environment where families feel supported rather than judged.
This matters because families need more than advice. They need access, encouragement, tools, and trusted spaces where healthy habits can be practiced in real life.
The partnership with Edison Johnson Recreation Center helps bridge the gap between clinical care and community wellness. Instead of simply telling families to be more active or eat healthier, Bull City Fit provides opportunities to practice those habits together. Families can move, learn, ask questions, try something new, and discover what works for them.
Shared spaces like Edison Johnson also make health feel more accessible. Recreation centers are familiar community anchors. They are places where families gather, children play, neighbors connect, and wellness can feel less clinical and more natural. By partnering with Durham Parks and Recreation, Bull City Fit is able to meet families in a setting that already belongs to the community.
Programs like Bull City Fit are especially important because childhood obesity is a complex chronic disease influenced by many factors, including food access, physical activity opportunities, sleep, stress, family routines, and the environments where children live and grow. Duke Healthy Lifestyles emphasizes personalized, family-centered care that considers each child’s physical, medical, dietary, and emotional well-being.
That same philosophy guides Bull City Fit programming at Edison Johnson. The goal is not perfection. The goal is progress, confidence, and connection.
A strong clinic-community partnership makes it possible to support families in practical ways:
- Creating safe and engaging opportunities for physical activity
- Helping children and caregivers build strength and confidence
- Offering hands-on nutrition education and healthy cooking skills
- Supporting families as they explore realistic healthy routines
- Connecting clinical care with a trusted community setting
- Building a sense of belonging around health and wellness
This work also strengthens the larger community. When families have access to supportive recreation spaces, practical nutrition education, and positive movement experiences, healthy choices become easier to imagine and easier to sustain. Edison Johnson Recreation Center is not simply a location for Bull City Fit. It is a partner in helping Durham families build healthier lives.
At its best, Bull City Fit is about more than exercise or food. It is about creating a place where families feel welcome, capable, and supported. It is about children discovering that movement can be fun. It is about caregivers seeing that small changes count. It is about community partners coming together around a shared belief that every family deserves access to health, wellness, and opportunity.
The partnership between Duke Healthy Lifestyles and Edison Johnson Recreation Center shows what is possible when health care moves beyond the clinic walls and into the community.
Together, we are building more than a program.
We are building strength, skills, confidence, and healthy habits for families.
