The First Coast YMCA provided swim lessons to more than 400 children at St. Augustine’s Solomon Calhoun Center, thanks to a $125,000 grant from the CDC Foundation, a global nonprofit organization designed to enhance the Centers for Disease Control’s public health initiatives.
The funding assisted with expanding the YMCA’s Safety Around Water program to partner with four local elementary schools to ensure more children in underserved communities learn essential water safety skills.
“The SAW program is specifically designed to prevent drowning by teaching kids how to stay safe and confident in and around water, a critical issue in Florida, where drowning is a leading cause of death for young children,” First Coast YMCA said in a news release.
Statistics show that Black children between the ages of 10 and 14 drown at rates 7.6 times higher than White children. How they drown also varies by race. According to the CDC, Black children and youth are more likely to drown in public pools, while white children and youth are more likely to drown in residential pools.
And drowning death rates for American Indian or Alaska Native people younger than 30 are two times greater than the rates for White people.
“The highest disparities are among American Indian or Alaska Native people ages 25-29 with rates 3.5 times higher than White individuals of the same age,” said the CDC.
According to the Florida Department of Health, drowning is the leading cause of injury death among children ages 1 to 4 in Florida.
“It is also the leading confirmed cause of death among Florida children accounting for more than 16 percent of child fatalities,” the agency said.
This article originally appeared on St. Augustine Record: First Coast YMCA gives more than 400 kids swim lessons in St. Augustine, thanks to grant
Reporting by Lucia Viti, St. Augustine Record / St. Augustine Record
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
