(WXYZ) — Huron-Clinton Metroparks is working to offer thousands of free swim lessons per year by the year 2028.
It's a part of their "Everyone in the Pool Initiative" that kicked off in 2021. The program is designed to remove barriers for low-income families so more children can learn to swim.
Since its inception, instructors with the program have been able to teach more than 4,600 children how to swim. The program is currently offered in Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Howell. With a $1.5 million fundraising goal now in mind, the Huron-Clinton Metroparks system is now hoping to expand the program and offer free swim lessons to 6,000 youth and adults by 2028.
"Over 80% of kids in the city of Detroit whose family income are less than $50k a year don’t know how to swim and that’s a huge statistic. It puts those children and their families at incredible risk and it also denies them opportunities to experience what Michigan has to the fullest," said Amy McMillan who is the director of Huron-Clinton Metroparks.
Currently drowning is the third leading cause of death for children and disproportionately impacts children of color. According to the parks system, Black children aged 11-12 are 10 times more likely to die from drowning as their white counterparts in the same age group.
After experiencing her own near-drowning as a child, Minty Washington says it was important that she enrolled her grandson Elijah in swim lessons.
"Everybody should know how to swim. You could be anywhere. You don’t know when you’re going to be on some water and have to swim," said Washington.
Denisse Johnson says her grandson's abilities on the water have completely transformed after spending two years in the program.
"Before, he didn’t have any water skills and then he started developing a fear of water after the pandemic where he didn’t want to get in the water. We kept coming and one of the lifeguards had to show him how to breathe and then he got calmer and started really believing that he could swim," said Johnson.
Johnson says now its difficult to get him to leave the pool when lessons have concluded.
Another part of the initiative includes training to produce lifeguards. If you’re interested in participating in the lifeguard program or the swim program, more information can be found on the Huron-Clinton Metroparks website or by sending an email.
