MEDIA ADVISORY
SAN DIEGO, California, July 5, 2020: It’s July and many kids are missing out on an important summer activity – – swim lessons! Prevent Drowning Foundation of San Diego (PDFSanDiego) usually has a full calendar of outreach activities and fundraisers by this time of the year; however, with the current COVID-19 environment, that has changed and shined a greater light on the inequality of resources in our community. Although our annual fundraiser Pier Jump will still happen this coming Monday morning — July 6th; for the sake of social distancing, this year participation is restricted to only San Diego Junior Guards (SDJG). While we acknowledge that this is one of only a few water-activity programs that San Diego youths will be able to participate in the summer of 2020, we still encourage those who annually support the program to continue their donations and efforts to help us increase the number of minority swimmers and junior lifeguards as we work to equalize water-instruction resources throughout the County.
“Teaching children of color and low-income children how to swim is a life saving skill. San Diego needs to solve the social injustice connected to this issue and PDFSanDiego is committed to leading the fight. We need the San Diego community to help us,” said PDFSanDiego President Buc Buchanan.
Drownings are a public health issue and the allocation of resources disproportionately affects African American, Latino, and Native American populations more than any other racial groups. It all starts with learning how to swim. Swimming is a life skill that is not easily available to all demographics in our community. According to the USA Swimming Foundation, 79% of children in households with incomes of less than $50,000 have little-to-no swimming ability. This includes 64% of African-American, 45% of Hispanic/Latino, and 40% of Caucasian children. Formal swimming lessons reduce the likelihood of childhood drowning by 88%.
PDFSanDiego is reaching out to the San Diego County community to ask the life-saving question, “Does your child know how to swim?? If the answer is “no”, families are urged to visit the foundation’s website https://preventdrowningfoundation.org/learntoswim and fill out the “Swim Lessons Needed, (interest form)”. This information will help us directly reach families in the community that need help gaining access to these resources. As pools continue to open, PDFSanDiego will directly contact underserved residents and fund swim lessons/provide water-safety clinics throughout the summer.
The Foundation also announces the new “Swim Lesson Locator” — created by Kearny High School GIS Student Interns/School of Biomedical Science and Technology, This interactive map shows all of the pools, schools and school districts in San Diego County and will help all families to quickly identify swim lesson options in geographic areas closest to their home or school. In addition, the Foundation will use this map to help identify areas that most need swim lesson resources in the future.
About us: The mission of the Prevent Drowning Foundation of San Diego is to save lives by funding, coordinating and promoting swim lessons for underserved youth and providing aquatic safety education for all. Drowning is preventable and it is our vision to teach every child in San Diego how to swim.
Foundation Impacts for 2019: Over $125,000 funded impacting kids throughout San Diego County. This includes 5,121 swim lessons / visit to the beach experiences, 7,385 aquatic safety lectures, 21 grants provided in addition to providing San Diego Junior Lifeguard scholarships for 60 kids.
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