New York City mayor Eric Adams and New York City Department of Parks and Recreation commissioner Sue Donoghue outlined details on the administration's $5.5 million expansion of its highly successful free swimming classes Tuesday.
First announced in Adams' 2025 State of the City address, NYC Parks will expand free swim programs to reach another 4,800 second-graders – bringing the total students served through the program to nearly 18,000 — in the ongoing effort to reach "more students in underserved areas, delivering a safer and more affordable city and one that is a better place to raise a family," an announcement at nyc.gov stated. The initiative will target underserved communities and save working-class families $1.3 million in swimming lessons with this expansion alone. These free lessons will take place at New York City Public Schools pools and select third party indoor pools.
"To make New York City the best place to raise a family, we must continue to invest in the services that families need and deserve, and that includes swim safety," said Adams. "Expanding free swimming classes will enrich our young people's lives and keep them safe, allowing families to confidently take advantage of our world-class beaches and pools. Under this $5.5 million expansion, we will now reach a total of nearly 18,000 students with this program, serving more kids and families in underserved communities, and saving families over $1.3 million on swim lessons. This investment, once again, builds on our work to create a safer, more affordable city for working-class people as we continue to make New York City the best place to raise a family."
"As New York City summers get hotter, New Yorkers of all ages increasingly rely on our 14 miles of beaches and dozens of public pools to cool off," said deputy mayor for operations Jeffrey Roth. "While we invest in the hardware, spending over $1 billion to retrofit and build new city pools, all that infrastructure only goes so far without the safety skills to go along with it. We're starting kids early, in second grade, providing free swim safety classes so kids build skills that will follow them for the rest of their lives."
>NYC Parks' free swimming classes taught more than 13,000 young people how to swim in Fiscal Year 2024, saving families hundreds of dollars each on swimming classes every year and laying the foundation for a lifetime of water safety for their children. As part of this program, NYC Parks will host three sessions — in winter, spring, and fall — of free swim safety classes each school year. Each session will serve six classes, with approximately 20 students per class, or 120 per session, totaling about 360 to 370 students throughout the school year. This targeted effort ensures that more second graders, particularly in underserved communities, gain life-saving water-safety skills while benefiting from Mayor Adams' broader efforts to make New York City safer and more affordable for working-class families.
"The rash of drownings at beaches like Rockaway in recent years – cutting short so many young, promising lives – represents a call to action for us as a city," said Queens borough president Donovan Richards, Jr. "Expanding swim education for thousands of our residents is one critical piece of that puzzle, as we work to prevent future avoidable tragedies in our waters. As the weather begins to warm, I look forward to working with the administration to teach more of our kids how to swim, while building more public pools and taking steps to make the summer beach season safer for all."
In addition to Tuesday's announcement, more than 6,800 people were served last year as part of the city's "Learn to Swim" program at indoor pools, and more than 6,600 people took part in "Swim for Life" program, a vital initiative aimed at preventing childhood drownings by building partnerships between public agencies and private organizations. About 20,000 people take part in swim programming – including senior splash and swim team programs and swimming lessons for children – throughout the year with NYC Parks. Finally, more than 60 percent of NYC Parks' pools are less than one-quarter of a mile from a New York City Housing Authority campus and in communities with high Heat Vulnerability Index scores, making free swim lessons crucial to the safety of New York City youths."Swimming is a lifelong skill that provides exercise and recreation no matter your age, but most importantly swim lessons are a life saving skill," said councilmember Francisco P. Moya. "These free swim lessons remove economic and cultural barriers to this vital skill, help prevent future tragedies, and encourage our youth to stay active. I couldn't be more excited to see Mayor Adams' initiative in action and celebrate these young people's accomplishments in the heart of Flushing Meadows Corona Park."
