First responder starts 5K to encourage diversity in the emergency response field

YEG Disaster Dash aims to raise money to support Black and Indigenous students in their first year of Northern Alberta Institute of Technology's disaster and emergency management program. The event is scheduled to be a virtual 5K run scheduled for October 14. Chaka Zinyemba, a rapid response manager for the Canadian Red Cross in Edmonton, started the event to change and encourage diversity in the emergency response field.

The money will go toward $5,000 bursaries, which a student-led collective established at the school this year, according to CBC. 

"Having a wider representation would allow for a better and more effective response and strengthen communities overall," Zinyemba said Tuesday in an interview with CBC Edmonton's Radio Active.