Youth Learn to Swim Program Still Cut in Most of Manhattan as City Pools Open for the Summer Season

As city public pools make their opening debut for the summer on June 27, New Yorkers may be inclined to join the Learn to Swim program, which offers free swimming lessons for all ages. Unfortunately, they might have trouble doing so.

Out of the thirteen functioning Manhattan public pools, only one– the Hamilton Fish Pool on the Lower East Side–will be offering the Learn to Swim program for kids. And of the 50 open pools across all five boroughs, only six or seven will offer the program, according to a representative of the Director of Citywide Aquatics.

This was also the case last summer. New Yorkers hoped throughout the spring that the services and infrastructure would improve as the city government made efforts to bolster the aquatics program and hire more lifeguards. While the number of lifeguards is up this year compared to a year ago, the city is still hundreds of lifeguards short of its target of 1,500 people to staff all its ocean beaches and pools.

Straus News has been covering the lifeguard shortages for over a year, which influences the availability of programs and reflects the city pools’ lack of resources. Last month, Mayor Eric Adams announced that lifeguard training would be modified for shallow water pools, and vision requirements would become more relaxed. A pay raise was also settled last July, increasing hourly wage from $16 to $19.46. The starting wage this year rose again to $22/hr.

These changes came with the hope of incentivizing more people to become lifeguards, though it’s unclear if that will affect employment this summer. At a ceremony at an Astoria pool in Queens on June 27, Adams said that 600 lifeguards were on the city payroll. The Parks Department estimates it needs about 1,500 to fully open all its ocean beaches fully staff its outdoor pools.

But help may be on the way for the future. The opening of outdoor pools also follows Adams’ announcement of the Let’s Swim NYC initiative, a $1 billion capital investment toward building, improving, and protecting the city’s public pools over the next five years. The city is funding 39 pools, building two new indoor pools, and fully renovating three additional ones. “For all New Yorkers, this Thursday [June 27] city pools will open for the summer, and with that comes an investment of more than $1 billion to build and improve our city’s pools over the next five years,” Adams said at his media avail at City Hall on June 25.

While these improvements will of course take time, it remains a shock to New Yorkers that public pool programs such as Learn to Swim have still not bounced back since the pandemic. Adams promises renovations and expansion of public pools through Let’s Swim NYC, but the services offered at these pools are equally as important as their appearance or functionality.

A 2017 Health Department survey found that 25.8 percent of Latino students, 35.6 percent of Black students, and 34.3 percent of Asian students cannot swim. The survey was done pre-pandemic and it is not likely the number of non swimmers decreased in the post COVID era since city pools were closed entirely in 2020.

The City Council last year passed a bill that mandated that every second grader in a New York City public school would get swimming lessons during the school year. But in November, the second grade swim program that was co-sponsored by Upper East Side City Council member Julie Menin saw its $5.4 million allocation eliminated as Adams sought to close what he said was a $7 billion budget deficit.

While much of the Let’s Swim NYC initiative recently unveiled by Adams is aimed at teaching students water safety, the effects of the new program will roll out over the next five years. The Learn to Swim program for kids was an accessible opportunity to learn important, life-saving water skills at neighborhood outdoor pools.