Body Empowerment Project empowers youth to find body acceptance and self-worth. The organization works to prevent eating disorders in adolescents, specifically in populations that lack access to treatment and preventive care. Our mission is to decrease eating disorder risk in adolescents and equip them with the skills to live peacefully and healthfully in their bodies through meaningful, near-peer interactions.

Body Empowerment Project’s main service is a 10-week eating disorder prevention program for underserved middle and high school students in Philadelphia. The program, offered free-of-cost to all partnering schools, is structured into weekly educational workshops led by trained college students who serve as near-peer mentors. We currently serve public middle and high school students in the School District of Philadelphia—the largest and one of the most poorly funded school districts in Pennsylvania. In line with our mission, the program is offered to all students at our partnering schools free of cost.