Why Every Brooklyn Parent Needs to Read This Investigation Right Now
The Investigation We Wish We Didn’t Need to See
Today’s Brooklyn Paper investigation into Brooklyn’s water safety crisis confirms what we’ve known at Swim Strong Foundation: the system is broken, and children are paying the price.
When we lost Elyjha Chandler and Christian Perkins at Jacob Riis Park last summer, their mothers chose to turn grief into action through our Brooklyn South partnership. Now this investigation reveals why their advocacy is so desperately needed.
The Reality Check
The families featured in today’s article – struggling with impossible choices between affordability and safety – represent thousands more across Brooklyn. When swim lessons cost what some families spend on groceries for months, when entire neighborhoods lack basic infrastructure, we’re looking at a public health crisis.
As our founder told the Brooklyn Paper: nonprofits can only fill gaps “where they can fill gaps. And this is beyond a gap — this is like a canyon.”
What This Investigation Reveals
The specific barriers families face will shock you. The geographic disparities will make you angry. The systemic failures that make tragedies predictable will demand your action.
We’ve taught over 55,000 New Yorkers “situational awareness of water,” but today’s investigation shows why individual programs – no matter how effective – can’t solve this alone.
The Path Forward
This crisis requires more than nonprofits working in isolation. It demands systematic change: policy reform, infrastructure investment, and a cultural shift around water safety education.
The mothers of Elyjha and Christian understood this when they chose advocacy over isolation. Today’s investigation provides the roadmap for the change their advocacy demands.
Read the investigation. Share it. Then let’s build the bridges this community needs.
Read the full investigation: “More pools are coming. Is that enough to save Brooklyn’s children from drowning?”
Learn about the community response in collaboration with mothers advocating for water safety: “Turning Grief into Action”
