The Importance of Expanding Access to Safe Waters in Communities of Color

"For Davis, Bruce Beach and its environs evoke a personal connection to the past: His great-grandfather helped build Pensacola Lighthouse, located within the city's nearby naval air station. Whenever he's at Bruce Beach, he says, "I can see the lighthouse, and I can know that my ancestors are still shining on me." Today, Davis sees how the revitalized waterfront can represent a bright future for Black Pensacolians then and now: "I only imagine how the young African-American youth would go there for the summer and dream about what they could become.""

"A similar sentiment comes through at a new pool more than 1000 miles north of Pensacola in New York City: After several decades of advocacy from community organizations and city groups, a massive new recreational space opened earlier this year: the Davis Center at the Harlem Meer, located in the northeast corner of Central Park, is returning vital public facilities to local residents, particularly the predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in and surrounding East Harlem. The center is open year-round, with programming designed to bring New Yorkers together through fitness, art, music, wellness, and education. And this summer, a core element of its mandate was facilitating swim lessons and other aquatic activities-offerings that residents had long been requesting."

"Candace Senior, who helps lead aquatics programming for NYC Parks, was especially thrilled to oversee the implementation of those plans earlier this year. Senior's history with the water stretches back decades: She began teaching swim lessons with the NYC Parks Learn to Swim program back in 2012, work that took her all around the city. Senior recalls learning to swim when she was only four years old, which made her an anomaly. "I feel like a lot of minorities, my friends in my age group, didn't have this opportunity to pay for lessons or to have this access [to] free learn-to-swim programs," she says."

Bruce Beach and its environs connect Davis to family history because his great-grandfather helped build the Pensacola Lighthouse at the nearby naval air station. Davis views the revitalized waterfront as a symbol of a brighter future for Black Pensacolians and imagines youth visiting to dream about possibilities. The Davis Center at the Harlem Meer in Central Park restores vital public facilities to predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in and around East Harlem, offering year-round programming in fitness, art, music, wellness, education, and aquatics. The center prioritized swim lessons and aquatic activities after decades of community advocacy. Candace Senior leads NYC Parks aquatics programming and highlights longstanding access gaps to swim instruction among minorities.

Read at Conde Nast Traveler