--- title: Alison Desir Is Creating Community Through Harlem Run description: Alison Desir talks about creating the community running group Harlem Run that ran from New York to Washington DC for the Women's March. canonical: https://time.com/collections/american-voices-2017/4995739/american-voices-alison-desir/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-02T18:01:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-02T23:23:45.886Z og:title: 'Harlem Run' Seeks to Join the Community and Bring Social Change og:description: The group ran from New York to Washington D.C. for the Women's March og:url: https://time.com/collections/american-voices-2017/4995739/american-voices-alison-desir/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23c0f679a606efc3/6988e44c4ee262059630fa19/alison-desir.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 'Harlem Run' Seeks to Join the Community and Bring Social Change og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Harlem Run' Seeks to Join the Community and Bring Social Change twitter:description: The group ran from New York to Washington D.C. for the Women's March twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23c0f679a606efc3/6988e44c4ee262059630fa19/alison-desir.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 02, 2017 # Alison Desir Talks Leading A ‘Women’s Rights’ Marathon From Harlem > Sponsored content. 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Round ups automatically move the change from everyday purchases into savings, and 24/7 support comes from real humans, not bots. #### What bank is built for life today? Ally is the bank built for life today, a digital-first, people-first bank. Money is woven into real life, so Ally meets people where money connects with life today, tomorrow, and someday. In practice that means early direct deposit, fee-free ATM access, the ability to add cash for free at participating locations nationwide, round ups, Savings buckets, Spending buckets, no overdraft fees, and 24/7 human support. #### What bank is best for everyday spending and saving? Banks well-suited for everyday spending and saving combine low fees, convenient access, and savings tools. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff  Courtesy Alison Désir Activist, athlete and visionary Alison Desir etched her spot in history this past January when she led a group of runners from New York City to Washington, DC in support of women’s rights. Now, she’s sharing some of the backstory behind the initiative as part of the TIME Inc. American Voices video series. Over the course of the last four years, Desir has brought inspiration and unity to her community through her organization Harlem Run, which acted as the vehicle for the monumental movement that saw people join in along the way as she led them some 250 miles to the nation’s capital. After going through a period of depression following a difficult break up and the death of her father, the proud Harlem native started the organization as a safe space for release, wellness and purpose. “Running is the vehicle for social change,” Desir shares in the video.”We could be doing something else but, running holds us together. It creates connection, it creates community.” Founded by the 32-year-old trailblazer in 2013, Harlem Run is described as “a collective of runners passionate about running and community.” Hear more of Alison’s empowering backstory in the video above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/american-voices-2017/4995739/american-voices-alison-desir/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/american-voices-2017/4995739/american-voices-alison-desir/"},"headline":"'Harlem Run' Seeks to Join the Community and Bring Social Change","datePublished":"2017-11-02T18:01:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:23:45.886Z","description":"Alison Desir talks about creating the community running group Harlem Run that ran from New York to Washington DC for the Women's March.","url":"https://time.com/collections/american-voices-2017/4995739/american-voices-alison-desir/","keywords":["American Voices"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23c0f679a606efc3/6988e44c4ee262059630fa19/alison-desir.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23c0f679a606efc3/6988e44c4ee262059630fa19/alison-desir.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/american-voices-2017/4995739/american-voices-alison-desir/","name":"'Harlem Run' Seeks to Join the Community and Bring Social Change"}}]}] ```