BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. — Florida leads the nation in child drownings. We are surrounded by beautiful bodies of water and it’s why swim safety is more than a story. It’s a priority for us.
In this “Swim South Florida” story, Local 10’s Nicole Perez has found out all the details about an initiative to ensure children in Miami-Dade County learn how to swim and it is free to parents and caregivers.
It’s a statistic no one wants to hear. Drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages one to 14 in Miami-Dade County.
The Zero Drownings Miami-Dade Initiative objective is to improve community water safety.
Nicole Sugarman from Miami-Dade Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces is here to let the community know that the program provides free swim safety lessons for ages 4 to kindergarten at select childcare centers during the school year.
“They’re doing breath control, they’re jumping in, they’re turning their bodies and reaching for the wall. The goal is to get them to a point where if they happen to fall into a pool, they know what to do,” said Sugarman.
The lessons are conducted as field trips. They are 30 minutes long and focus on a variety of skills.
The program also offers after school and summer swim lessons.
“We make it imperative to the parent to understand, you may like the water, but it’s a safety measure for these kids to learn how to swim, because it’s very, very important,” said Sugarman.
Demoni Woods is one young lady Local 10 spoke to who is reaping all the benefits of the program in her community.
“First, I just started like learning how to kick and like learning how to be above the water. But now I know how to like tread the water. I know how to backstroke, front stroke, in different ways,” said Woods.
Woods is 11 years old, and she has some advice for other kids who might be a little nervous to get in the water.
“It’s okay because if you keep going, then you’ll be more comfortable and it’s like, it’s good and it’ll make you feel better,” said Woods.
For her mother, it was a no-brainer to enroll her daughter in swim classes.
“We have lakes, we have canals, we have the ocean, we have water parks, we have swimming pools. So, there’s water everywhere. And I think it’s important that the kids know how to swim,” said Demoni’s mother.
The Children’s Trust launched the initiative in April 2024. According to the organization, the program has provided water safety and swim lessons to over 2,500 children across Miami-Dade County from 66 elementary schools and preschool centers. The program intends to scale to 10,000 participants in 2025-2026 before reaching the goal of 20,000 children annually in 2026-2027.
For more information about the program and details to sign up, click on this link.
South Florida swim class resources:
For more information about swimming lessons at the YMCA visit: https://ymcasouthflorida.org/swim-lessons/.
The Florida Department of Health in Broward provides free swim coupons to residents, along with a new lifeguard and swim instructor scholarship program to help fulfill the swim instructor shortage.
For more information, visit watersmartbroward.org.
CLICK HERE to read all of Local 10 News’ Swim South Florida news stories and announcements.
Swim South Florida consists of public service announcements and news stories that will air on Local 10 News and across all our digital platforms.
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