Advocacy

You have a beautiful aquatics facility with highly trained instructors and a carefully designed course curriculum.  The problem is – you can’t seem to attract a diverse group of adults and children to register for your classes.  You’ve tried everything; created brochures with models from divers ethnic backgrounds, discounted learn to swim classes, and promoted your course offerings throughout the community. And still, attendance has not improved.

Or, perhaps you run a successful YMCA, USA Swimming or school swim team. You have dedicated parent volunteers and talented swimmers who love the sport. Still, despite your best efforts, the team lacks ethnic diversity.

Black Kids Swim is a 501c3 organization based in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Our mission is to increase Black participation in the sport of competitive swimming. To succeed in our mission, we must increase the number of African Americans with proficient swim skills. We do this through educational outreach, scholarship programs for young Black swimmers, promoting diversity in swimming, and hosting events to strengthen the Black Swim Community.

Since our founding in 2015, we have been featured in a wide variety of print, radio and television outlets including The Washington Post, BBC, The View, The New York Times, The Shade Room, Safe Kids Worldwide, Pool Safely, BounceTV, The Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun. Our social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and website reach more than 16,000 parents and swimmers every day. We are the #1 trusted resource in the African American community for all things swim related. In 2018, Black Kids Swim was awarded Aquatics International’s Change Maker Award for our work in diversifying the sport of competitive swimming.

Black Kids Swim founder, Ebony Rosemond, is a graduate of Florida A&M University (BA) and Howard University (MA). She and her husband, Edward Rosemond, founded EBAN to meet the unique hair and skin needs of swimmers. Their daughter, Rayven, is a championship freestyle and butterfly swimmer.