This is part one of two of a blog on water safety education, sharing how Three Rivers got to the point of piloting the first family water safety workshops.

Read part two to learn about how Three Rivers implemented the water safety workshops.

For the past decade, staff at Three Rivers Park District have been actively building connections and trust within communities currently underrepresented in parks and outdoor spaces. Underrepresented communities, as defined by our 2040 System Plan and guided by findings of our research team, include:  

• First-tier community members
• Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC)
• New immigrants and refugees
• Households with an average annual income of less than $50,000
• People 75 years and older   

Over the past few years, many residents in these community groups have expressed an urgent request for water-based skills. The question around how to keep their family safe rings particularly loud in regard to safety in and near bodies of water.  

Community Groups Identify Need for Water Safety Education  

Underrepresented community members have shared that their lack of water-based experiences can lead to fear both in and around water, which creates a barrier to other outdoor activities, including those offered at Three Rivers. For example, water-based activities like paddling can be intimidating due to concerns about falling into the water, even with safety measures in place. This fear can also extend to activities near water, such as fishing or BBQs, where worries about children falling off docks or walking too close to the edge can discourage families from participating in outdoor recreation because of their own lack of comfort around water. 

What we have heard from the community also aligns with what many experts say in relation to drowning-related deaths. The statistics show that in Minnesota and across the nation, there is a clear racial disparity in drowning related deaths tied to a lack of access and opportunity. Groups expressed that water safety and opportunities for swim instruction are hard to access due to limited awareness or availability of programs (including current offerings filling up quickly). They also identified that there was a high cost to participate in many existing programs and limited transportation options. Additionally, many offerings often do not meet their unique community needs, such as the need for family lessons, mixed-age sessions or women-only classes in private spaces. 

Barriers to Water Safety Is Often Generational

Many community members shared they could not access these opportunities growing up and are therefore interested in participating in water safety as a family, but that navigating these overwhelming systems is a significant barrier. Parents and caregivers shared their concerns about their children being around water, partly because they do not have personal swimming or water-based experiences themselves, which demonstrates the importance of offering multigenerational skill building opportunities in the "Land of 10,000 Lakes".   

Based on this feedback and the continued conversations with community members, Three Rivers community liaisons were interested in bringing these opportunities to their respective community groups as soon as possible. The next step was for Three Rivers staff to explore how to collaborate to best meet this need in the community.   

While Three Rivers was not inherently well-equipped to meet this need quickly within our existing resources due to staffing, training and facility needs, we were confident we had a role to play and wanted to be part of finding a solution.   

Planning for Water Safety Programs Through Community Collaboration

Conducting a Regional Water Safety Audit

We first sought and secured financial support to hire a contractor to conduct an audit of water safety education resources within our service area. The purpose of that project was to better understand the existing offerings and capacity of water safety instruction courses in the region and to better understand what Three Rivers’ role could be in helping to fill gaps and connect communities to existing water safety instruction opportunities.  

Building a Strategic Partnership with V3 Sports

While that audit was underway, staff continued to explore collaborative possibilities with organizations better equipped to meet the immediate demand. One of these organizations is V3 Sports, a nonprofit organization with a mission to elevate their community through wellness, fitness and education, which includes a major focus on swimming and water safety at their new facility in North Minneapolis. 

V3 staff were excited about the idea of partnering and creating a new family-focused water safety workshop. They were especially enthusiastic about shaping the program based on community feedback and continuing to refine it throughout the piloting process. 

As the idea came to fruition, Three Rivers applied for and received grant support to partner with V3 Sports in piloting a new approach to family-focused water safety programming, which will be covered in part two of this blog.

The water safety initiatives and community engagement discussed in this story are supported by the Youth Water Safety Grant program administered through the Minnesota Department of Education, Statewide Health Improvement Partnership administered through Hennepin County and the Equity Grant Program administered through the Metropolitan Council.