Our Work

Preventing childhood drowning requires multi-layered strategies and our work is a reflection of that need.

Swimming Lesson Programs

Access to swimming lessons will save lives! We provide free swim lessons and resources to children 3-18 and have supported nearly 1000 children through swimming lessons since 2022.

As an organization, we've successfully advocated for water safety legislation in WA state (link to Yori's Law page). In the coming years, our focus will be championing mandated water safety education curriculum in public schools as well as supporting policies that increase the number of trained lifeguards and swim instructors.

Community

We connect with our communities, both in-person and online, to raise awareness about water safety and drowning prevention. We attend community events and fairs, encourage screenings of Drowning in Silence, and support teenagers and other community members with meaningful volunteer opportunities.

Advocacy

We’re advocating for a safer nation where children don’t drown. Our advocacy efforts include:

Yori's Law:
- No More Under and Rep April Berg of WA state introduced and passed House Bill 1750, also known as Yori’s Law in 2023. In addition to promoting education and awareness around water safety, increasing access to swimming lessons, and equipping families with the necessary tools and equipment, Yori’s Law will designate May 15th as Water Safety Day.

Water Safety Day:
- As a result of the successful passage of WA House Bill 1750, also known as Yori’s Law, May 15th is now officially Water Safety Day in Washington state. In addition to outreach and awareness campaigns, No More Under will commemorate our state’s first annual Water Safety Day with a large, family friendly community event featuring statewide elected officials, life jacket giveaways, fun activities for kids, food from local vendors and live music!

Policy Goals:
- At No More Under, our ultimate policy goals include free swim lessons for every child in the US and mandatory water safety education in every public school.
- In Washington State, we are currently working hard to develop water safety pilot programs to be implemented into the physical education curriculum in select public schools across the state. We will use the data collected from these programs to better understand our state’s water safety education needs and leverage this knowledge to put forward legislation mandating water safety education in all Washington state public schools.
- Additionally, we are building a coalition of water safety organizations and legislative representatives to push policy that will expand funding and support for lifeguard and swim instructor certification.

Community

A community can be defined by a group of people sharing a common interest. Our interest is keeping children safe and our community is ever growing.

Community Events:
- We participate in many community events to help share water safety information. We enjoy connecting with families and building relationships! If you are interested in having No More Under be present at one of your events, message our Community Engagement Coordinator at community@nomoreunder.org
- Just recently we participated in a wonderful event in partnership with Mother Africa, Seattle Children’s Hospital and Washington State Parks.

Teen Ambassador Initiative:
- Coming Soon!

Drowning in Silence Screenings:
- Drowning in Silence, directed by our founder Chezik Tsunoda, is a documentary that examines the epidemic of childhood drowning. This film is harrowing but hopeful and eye-opening as Chezik takes a transformative journey after losing her son, Yori. We invite any person or group to host a local screening of this film! It can be a beautiful opportunity to gather the community in your area to share a life saving message.

Learn More

Inquire About Hosting A Screening

Programs

We have two programs, swimming lessons and lifeguarding which are pushing us towards our mission of reducing drownings.

Swimming Lessons

LESSONS TAUGHT

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Click here to get swim lessons.

Participation in formal swim lessons can reduce the likelihood of childhood drowning death by 88%. We believe everyone deserves the opportunity to safely enjoy the wonders of the water. We’re working to reduce barriers, cultural and financial among others, to make access to swimming lessons more equitable.

The majority of our work is currently in the State of Washington, but we are starting to expand and spread our impact to more states!

Impact and Goals
- In 2022 we supported nearly 200 children through swim lessons. See our 2022 report here!
- In 2023 we will support around 750 children through swim lessons.
- In 2024, our goal is to support 1000 children through swim lessons, but also establish pathways for opportunities to keep families engaged in aquatics after our initial programs.

We're supporting swim lessons through three different approaches:

Testimonials

"The biggest barrier is cost. I have 3 kids and I struggle giving them opportunities, so thank you!"

"We wouldn't be able to take lessons if it weren't for programs like these. I'm so grateful"

“My kids were so excited and learned something new every lesson.”

“Besides the swimming skills, my kids got new communication skills because they gained friends and had amazing instructors”

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Swim Seattle

Swim Seattle:
- We are a proud partner of the new Swim Seattle program.
- Swim Seattle is a new initiative that combines the efforts of YMCA, Public Health-Seattle & King County, Associated Recreation Council, Washington State Parks, No More Under, Seattle Children’s, and the University of Washington to remove barriers to learning to swim and to eradicate disproportionate drownings among youth of color.
- Our hope is to support the permanent establishment of free swim lessons for youth throughout the Greater Seattle area.
- Families can register for these lessons through the City Scholarship Program or YMCA survey.
- Check out the press release about Swim Seattle and our recent post!

Learn to Swim Lesson

Learn to Swim Lessons:
- HOW DOES IT WORK?
  - No More Under facilitates connections with community-serving organizations and aquatic facilities of all kinds. The majority of our programs operate at aquatic facilities where their trained swim lesson teachers conduct the lessons. Occasionally, opportunities arise where there are underutilized pools that don’t have an operational swim school. In these instances, we seek local aquatic enthusiastics (high school swimmers, previous swim teachers, etc.) and work together to offer lessons in the pool. We have developed a curriculum to support the volunteer instructors in providing water safety skills to the participants.
  - Whether we’re working with existing swim lessons programs, or we’re recruiting volunteer instructors, our goal is the same: to create equitable and accessible swim lessons. With support from partners and donors, No More Under covers the costs of the lessons, swim materials, and when necessary will support transportation, to ensure financial barriers are removed for participants.

AQUATIC PARTNERS
- We work with a variety of aquatic facilities and we’re always looking for more!
  - Parks and Rec departments
  - YMCA’s
  - City and Municipal facilities
  - Country Clubs
  - Private swim schools
  - Apartment Complex Pools
  - University/ College facilities (see College Swim Safely Series)
  - We invite any aquatic facility to reach out and see how we may work together to save lives!
- Click here to learn more about the process and benefits of collaborating with us!

COMMUNITY PARTNERS
- We work with a wonderful array of community-serving organizations.
  - Low-Income and Affordable Housing
  - School Districts
  - Foster Care organizations
  - BIPOC-serving organizations
  - Family Support groups
  - Immigrant and Refugee organizations
- We welcome you to connect with us if you know of an organization that could benefit from our support in developing a learn-to-swim program for their community. Please click here to connect with us about an organization.

RECENT PROGRAMS:
- Meredith Matthews YMCA
  - This program supported 47 children from Holgate Church in Seattle, as well as Treehouse Foster Care and Bellwether Housing in receiving free swim lessons.
  - Through a 5-day “condensed” program of swim lessons, we were able to provide students with water safety and survival skills.
  - PIE GRAPH: 78% of the participants qualified for free lunch
  - Check out the participants learning!
- Auburn School District
  - Over the summer months, we supported 167 children through an 8-day learn-to-swim program! The families were invited from the Auburn School District who qualified for free lunch.
  - PIE GRAPH: 67% of the participants had never had a formal swim lesson
  - Checkout some snapshots from our longest program yet!
- Tukwila
  - This was our second program with Tukwila this year, both funded by the USA Swim Foundation grant. It supported 56 children through a 6 day program!
  - PIE GRAPH: 81% of the participants identified as BIPOC

Collegiate Swim Safely Series:
- We’re thrilled to be bringing water safety to children across the nation through partnerships with Collegiate Swim and Dive teams! More info coming very soon!
- Contact Program Director, Natasha Lloyd, if you’d like to learn more: natasha@nomoreunder.org
RECENT PROGRAMS:
- University of Denver
  - 74 children were supported through the 5-day Swim Safely program
  - PIE CHART: 100% of the participants identified as BIPOC
  - Check out our post here!
  - This was the soft launch of our College Swim Safely Series and we’re incredibly thankful for the DU Swim and Dive team for working with us and sharing our vision!
- CSU Pueblo
- This was the second iteration of our pilot program. 35 children, invited from Pueblo Housing Authority and Pueblo School District were supported through the 5-day Swim Safely program.
- PIE CHART: 85% of the participants had participants in less than 2 weeks of formal swim lessons prior to this program.