Like many dreams, this former college athlete’s journey to help her community learn to swim started with a tweet. Paulana Lamonier’s mission to teach Black people this life skill led to her NYC-based organization, Black People Will Swim.
“Swimming has claimed so many lives of Black people,” she said to NBC News. “We deserve to have a space to learn without feeling discriminated against, without feeling as if we have to break the bank to learn this life skill. And, most importantly, it’s really a community.”
Additionally, the founder hopes to expand into its own facility within NYC. She emphasized the need for a Black-owned swim school among other minority-owned establishments.
“It is vital for us to have our own swim school, where people can come get affordable swim lessons for people who look like them and, most importantly, create that pipeline for aquatic professionals,” explained Lamonier.
Lamonier is part of a growing trend of Black people promoting swim lessons to benefit underrepresented communities. Their shared mission to dismantle this disparity in America seeks to build the next generation of diverse swimmers.
RELATED CONTENT: Olympic Swimmer Alice Dearing Retires, Says Her Time In The Sport Is ‘Finished’
Source: Black Enterprise
