12 Aug The YMCA of Greater Kansas City Receives $14,000 Grant from the USA Swimming Foundation, Make a Splash
The YMCA of Greater Kansas City was recently awarded a $14,000 grant from the USA Swimming Foundation, Make a Splash to help provide scholarships for children to receive full session of swim lessons and for the Safety Around Water Drowning Prevention curriculum. This program will provide potentially life-saving swimming lessons and drowning prevention education to school-age children most at risk for accidental drowning.
Funding will provide swim scholarships to 500 youth for swimming instruction embedded into their school day at elementary schools in the following school districts in the greater Kansas City metropolitan region: Atchison Public Schools (Atchison, KS), Turner School District (Kansas City, KS) and Bonner Springs Public Schools (Bonner Springs, KS). Friday swimming lessons will be incorporated into the Y’s SPARK! Summer Learning Loss Prevention program held in the Center School District (Kansas City, MO) as part of the weekly schedule for up to 80 youth enrolled in the program. Funding will also support scholarships for swim lessons, providing lifesaving drowning prevention and swim skill instruction to 50 youth on the autism spectrum.
The expected results of this project are increased awareness and knowledge about water safety and drowning prevention. Children who participate in the program will demonstrate increased knowledge about water safety. They will be able to climb into the water safely unassisted, climb out of the water safely unassisted, bob in the water, jump in feet-first unassisted, paddle and kick to the wall on their stomach, front float, back float, tread water, and enter the water feet-first and swim 15 feet to the wall and back.
The Y has served over 2,000 school children from some of the largest school districts in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Project participants will be children enrolled in school districts in under-served communities in the Greater Kansas City region, including Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas.