SOMA Justice will be hosting a fundraiser on June 7 at The Player Agency at The Baird, 5 Mead Street, South Orange, to raise money for the Learn to Swim Program run by local resident and lifelong swim instructor Ellis Peters.
Now headed into its third year, the SOMA Justice Learn to Swim Program was the recent subject of a profile by Village Green illustrating how the program, founded by Dr. Khadijah Costley White, is changing lives in South Orange and Maplewood — making residents safer and also changing the culture around swimming and the towns’ pools.
Tatiana John said she has been a resident of Maplewood for 31 years, and “ironically last summer was the first time I ever went to the pool.”
“I went to the pool through SOMA Justice, getting my kids swim lessons,” John told the Maplewood Township Committee in April, when she was officially appointed to the township’s Pool Advisory Committee. “My daughter is 15. My son is 12. And my kids were afraid to get into the water.” By the end of the summer, she said, her children were in the water “all day, every day.”
Leontyne Harry, another new member of the Maplewood Pool Advisory Committee, also came through the SOMA Justice Learn to Swim program — but as an adult swimmer. “I’m still learning,” she told the Township Committee.
The Learn to Swim program aims to provide lessons to unconventional swimmers — including those who cannot afford pool fees and lesson costs, children with parents who work weekdays, adult swimmers, and/or those with special needs. “This program was really a dream of mine to try to make good on our commitment to kids and other underserved folks in our community. I’m in awe of how it’s blossomed and that’s because of Ellis,” said White.
“Particularly in the African American community, representation has always been a bit of an issue,” said Peters. “And for folks that aren’t African American, it might not be a big deal, but if you are, it is. Particularly learning from someone who looks like you. We know the data that an important part of teaching is your teacher looking like you or you see yourself in your instructor. So I’ve been doing my best to fill that role. That’s been my particular niche and I’m open to working with everybody.”
Read more about SOMA Justice Learn to Swim here:
SOMA Justice’s Learn to Swim Program Is Changing Lives—and Local Pool Culture
Learn more about the June fundraiser here: app.aplos.com/
Donate here: https://app.aplos.com/aws/give/SOMAJustice/SwimProgram
