Safety Workshops Make Water Accessible to All

A Brooklyn Center nonprofit is helping make safely exploring Minnesota’s waterways possible for more families in the Twin Cities.

That’s with water safety training that they offer for free.

Getting on the Water

In the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes, there’s no shortage of things to do on the water.

“We want everyone to be connected to nature every day if they can,” said Nicole Fernandez, Three Rivers Park District’s cultural and community liaison.

Three Rivers offers many opportunities to get on the water with paddling and recreation passes– but there are also thousands of Minnesotans who can’t enjoy those waters to their full potential.

“What we realized was in our community, a lot of people don’t feel safe in and around water,” Fernandez said.

The CDC reports that every year in the United States, there are over 4,000 unintentional drowning deaths. Looking at those numbers across the country– Fernandez wanted to do something about it.

“We know that we’ve had way too many water-related incidents due to either people just being uninformed about the water or safety around the water, or lacking the skill of having swimming lessons,” Fernandez said.

The water safety workshops are held at V3 Sports in north Minneapolis.

Growing Water Access

Fernandez and her team wanted to do something to increase participation in activities while keeping people safe.

That’s where Ayanna Rakhu comes in. She learned in her kinesiology PhD research that people of color have lower water participation rates and higher drowning rates.

Rakhu, who works with V3 Sports in north Minneapolis, developed a curriculum to build water confidence for those lacking those skills and experiences.

It’s available for free to families thanks to a partnership with Three Rivers. It comes in the form of water safety workshops.

Each one, which takes up to 25 people of all ages, starts with a conversation in a classroom. Eventually, once trust is built, families hop into the pool with an instructor.

“We are practicing the basic skills that can help you be safe in water,” Rakhu explained. “So some self-rescue skills, like being able to float on your front and then turn over onto your back.” 

She says offering this workshop is a way to make water accessible, and integrate it into people’s lives.

“They’re always amazed at what they learn in the 90 minutes or two hours that we are in the water,” Rakhu said.

V3 interns practice the water safety curriculum with an instructor.

Brooklyn Center Connection

To help fill those classes, Brooklyn Center nonprofit SARX Global was tasked with finding families in need. SARX has been a part of other efforts like this– including its free learn to bike classes.

SARX Executive Director Wynfred Russell said this class fits right into their mission and addresses a problem he’s seen himself.

“We don’t want people to be fearful of playing in the lake or swimming,” Russell said. “To help educate people about swimming and water safety, and bringing families together around that, we thought it was something great to do.”

Families responded — they’ve already had multiple successful sessions. 

The groups are working together to make exploring 10,000 lakes safer for everyone.

The latest clinic was held last weekend, on Aug. 22.

There are still a few water safety classes on the books this fall, including ones on October 10 and September 19.

More details about the water safety program at V3 are available on its website. You can contact V3 to get your family signed up for any future sessions.

Brooklyn Center | Twin Cities