The West Cook YMCA is combining its commitment to swim and water safety with promoting equity and accessibility as the new season of their Swim Access Program begins in February.
The West Cook YMCA Swim Access Program was funded through the YMCA of USA’s Strategic Initiative Fund and USA Swimming Foundation to help reduce children’s risk of drowning by teaching essential water safety skills through a swim lesson program.
Phillip Jimenez, president and CEO of West Cook YMCA, said the program was intended to target populations with a higher likelihood of not having the life skills of swimming either themselves or within their family.
“Typically, African Americans and Latino populations tend to be the ones who do not have swimming as a life skill at a higher proportion,” Jimenez said. “They are a little bit more likely to have a drowning incident in their lifetime.”
According to the USA Swimming Foundation, in 2017, 64% of African-American children and 45% of Hispanic children have little to no swimming ability, in contrast to the 40% of Caucasian children who have little to no swimming ability.
Additionally, other factors can be at play, including socioeconomic status: About 79% of children from households with incomes less than $50,000 having little to no swimming ability.
In 2022, a parent survey conducted by Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago found that more than 26% of Black parents and more than 32% of Latino parents reported not learning to swim, compared with fewer than 4% of white parents who reported the same.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also reported that Black children ages 10 to 14 years old drown in swimming pools at rates over seven times higher than white children.
To help bring this program to communities with higher needs, Jimenez said work with local community partners to help raise awareness of the program’s existence including Maywood School District 89 as well as Forest Park School District 91, Oak Park Elementary School District 97, and River Forest School District 90.
“It is really about creating access to address social inequity,” Jimenez said. “By creating it as a complimentary program, targeting priority populations we are increasing access to the life skill of swimming or drowning prevention.”
The YMCA will also be allocating a complementary family membership to the family for the time their child is enrolled in the program.
“It is a nice way for us to create membership and a bridge as opposed to a gatekeeper,” Jimenez said.
As parents witness their child move through the eight complimentary sessions, Jimenez said he loves seeing the “aha” moments where the realization of the growth they are experiencing becomes clear to the parents- the moments where the child is looking forward to their next class, where they move confidently into the pool, and are confidently dipping their head under the water.
“Those to us are the real indicators of success,” he said, adding that it’s important for the instructors to make the children feel comfortable, welcomed, and safe right off the bat.
The swim lessons are designed to teach drowning prevention, basic rescue skills, stroke development, and build youth confidence in and around water.
Drowning prevention can be beneficial in various situations, said Jimenez, including even the ones where the dangers might not be as obvious, like a hotel pool.
“There are many situations in the course of a young person’s journey that they can be confronted with the potential of drowning,” Jimenez said. “The goal of the Y is to help a person be safe around water.”
According to the YMCA website, 60% of youth drowning incidents occur within 10 feet of safety and 88% of children who drown are under some form of supervision. Two children die each day from drowning.
But safety is not the only benefit of swimming, said Jimenez, as the ability to swim opens the doors to many recreational opportunities, different ways to stay healthy, and even possible careers — all of which the YMCA can help play a role in their pathways.
“The idea is that if we start young then they can have a lifetime full of aquatic pathways that is really fulfilling to them,” he said.
The eight 30-minute complimentary swim lessons will be held February 10 through March 30 on Saturdays from either 11:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. or 12:10 p.m. – 12:40 p.m.
Other sessions are scheduled for April, June and September.
Registration can be done online.