Photo by Joseph A. Garcia
OXNARD — As a beachside city, Oxnard has a staggering 90 percent-plus non-swimming low-income youth population, according to Debra De Vries and Armando Vazquez, executive directors of The Foundation For Educational and Employment Resources Development, the Café on A and Acuna Art Gallery, Oxnard Youth KEYS Leadership Academy and ACCESS Water, Oxnard!
“This summer the city of Oxnard, in partnership with The KEYS Leadership Academy and the The Oxnard Police Dept., has the opportunity to provide low-income non-swimming youth with the opportunity of a lifetime,” they stated in a release. “City officials can be the driving force in making ACCESS to water safety and recreation a reality for 200 to 300 non-swimming youth and their families of our community.
“There are a number of important water recreation, safety, health, exercise, and environmental / conservation issues that we believe are closely interrelated and uniquely impact Oxnard’s non-swimming low-income populations, and we believe that the ACCESS to water summer swim program can create an incredible win-win situations for the entire Oxnard community… .
“The YMCA is committed to provide swim lessons for approximately 200-300 youth and their families this summer. The cost of the two-week swim lesson per individual is amazingly only $39. The ratio of lifeguard to trainee is one to five. If we were to provide swim lessons to 200 youth we would require 20 lifeguards.
“Here is where the win/win scenario begins to develop for our city. The KEYS Youth Leadership Academy and the YMCA would recruit local youth to be our own lifeguard brigade: a unique first in the history of Oxnard! After the YMCA provides the lifeguard training these youth will be certified as lifeguards. These youth would then be hired as certified lifeguards by the YMCA, in effect creating 40 summer jobs for our youth in the community.
“Along with the traditional lifeguard training, the KEYS Youth Leadership Academy would provide conservation/environmental educational awareness to these 15-20 certified lifeguards and the 200 other youth in the ACCESS to swim program…
“We will need to fundraise the $6,000 to $12,000 to fund the project, so any small tax-deductible contribution is greatly appreciated.
“Get the word out about this great project and invite the ACCESS Water in Oxnard team to make a presentation to your group of interested supporters.”
Call 805-216-4560 or click here for more information. Make checks payable to The Foundation, EERD.