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Our Goal

The goal of Black Girls Do Swim is to provide support, encouragement, education and community for African American women that desire to learn how to swim. In our communities it is rare to see Black girls swimming competitively or Black women participating in sports such as triathlon. We want to change that by motivating and encouraging African American women to learn how to swim. It is never too late to learn to swim and learning to swim could save your life.

  • According to the American Red Cross about 70% of African Americans can not perform all five basic swimming skills (ability to: Step or jump into the water over your head, return to the surface and float or tread water for one minute, turn around in a full circle and find an exit, swim 25 yards to the exit, and exit from the water without a ladder).
  • In a survey conducted by the American Red Cross African American men are more likely to report that they are able to perform the five basic swimming
  • The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has advised that on average 10 people die every day in the U.S. due to
  • The CDC reports that drowning is the 5th leading cause of accidental death in the United
  • African American children between the ages of 5 and 19 drown in swimming pools at a rate more than 5 times white
  • African American children 11-12 years old drown in swimming pools at a rate 10 times as white
  • Drowning continues to be a public health problem impacting ethnic groups in a disproportionate

Encouraging African American women to swim can change the statistics that have impacted the Black community for generations.

Our Mission

Black Girls Do Swim wants to dispel the myth that Black girls don’t swim and give African American women a place to connect with new and veteran swimmers. We want to increase the amount of Black women that learn how to swim and reduce the amount of preventable drownings in our communities. In order to change the narrative we want to encourage minority women to swim for health, fitness, competition and motivate them to stop the often generational curse of not knowing how to swim. Black Girls Do Swim will help those who want to learn to swim reach their swim goals and in the process potentially save a life.