Fitness Matrix: Break a Sweat...Make an Impact

Fitness Matrix's Albert Ferguson motivates commnuity workout session with Evanston Police Department

By Shop Evanston Magazine

Because of his ties to the local community, Albert was approached by officers Ervin de Leon and Adam Howard from the Evanston Police Department to host a special community fitness event called “Five-O-Fitness”. The objective of the Five-O-Fitness is to engage community members with the police department through regular workouts right in the neighborhood. 30 people paid a small fee to workout alongside Albert and officers from the police department, and uniformed officers stopped by to chat throughout the event. Albert and his team even had Evanston Mayor Steve Hagerty sweating and boxing!

Fitness Matrix donated the proceeds of the event to the Officer & Gentlemen Academy mentorship program coordinated by EPD and Evanston/Skokie School District 65. But participating in Five-O-Fitness was only the first step in Albert’s grand scheme to strengthen the Evanston community. Albert wishes to make Fitness Matrix accessible and affordable to all Evanston residents so that everyone can experience the benefits of working out to improve their overall daily life.

To deepen its roots in the community, Fitness Matrix is launching a kids’ martial arts programs to help mentor young boys and girls in hopes that through this additional training, these students will develop goal setting and persevere to graduate from high school, where they can continue their relationship with Albert through the New Leaf Initiative when they matriculate in college.

Enter the New Leaf Initiative: Albert’s work-in-progress, a program that aims to provide a broad spectrum of support and mentorship to local first generation college students. “When you first get to college, especially as the first in your family to attend, it’s like learning how to drive – there are so many important things that command your attention that it’s hard not to make mistakes,” Albert says.

“It would be nice to help these students navigate resources, interact with professors, manage their new found personal freedom, and problem solve anything else that arises.”