Denver Joins Nationwide Push To Provide Swimming Lessons For Minority Children

DENVER (CBS4)- Pools are starting to open for the summer across the Front Range and this year a national consumer safety group is pushing for more minority children to become enrolled in swimming lessons.

Denver is getting involved in that campaign. The reason minority children are targeted is because that group has a higher number of drownings.

All 16 public pools in Denver will be offering swimming lessons. There's also financial assistance for families that can't afford lessons.

The Consumer Products Safety Commission is pushing for more swimming programs geared toward minorities.

Research shows black children between the ages of 5 and 14 are three times more likely to drown than white children.

"Seventy percent of African American children and 62 percent of Hispanic children do not know how to swim and that is alarming in this country," said Consumer Product Safety Commission spokeswoman Inez Tenenbaum.

Parents should try to get their children into swim lesson early.

"To conquer whatever fear they have of the water, especially for the ones who don't start as young as they possibly can, the younger the better," said Instructor Amanda DeJesus.

Denver public pools open June 1 and 2 depending on which neighborhood you live in.