How to Host a Water Safety Workshop in Your Community

To host a water safety workshop, choose one audience and one goal, use a ready-made lesson plan, add a hands-on piece like a CPR demonstration, and send everyone home with printables and one clear next step. You don't need to be an expert. Our free plans give you the script, activities and handouts, and every fact in them is sourced.

Pick your audience and goal

A workshop works best when it's built for one group. Some examples:

Why aim so high? Because the gaps are real. The CDC found that more than half of U.S. adults (54.7%) have never taken a swimming lesson (opens in a new tab), and 40 million say they can't swim.

Use a ready-made lesson kit

Each plan below is free and printable, with timings, materials, activities and take-home sheets.

Teaching in a school? See our K-12 lesson plans.

Whatever the audience, build around the National Drowning Prevention Alliance's five layers of protection (opens in a new tab): barriers and alarms, supervision, water competency, life jackets and emergency preparation. No single layer prevents every drowning; they work together.

Invite people who can teach hands-on skills

People remember what they practice.

• CPR. CPR is a hands-on skill, so invite a certified instructor instead of teaching it yourself. In New York City, the FDNY's Free CPR Program (opens in a new tab) teaches a 30-minute hands-only CPR and AED class, and its Mobile CPR Training Unit (opens in a new tab) can come to an organization's venue (not a private home) for 15 to 50 people. Request it at least 14 days ahead. Elsewhere, look for instructors through the American Red Cross (opens in a new tab). See where to learn CPR.
• Swim programs. Invite someone from a local swim program to explain how to sign up. In New York City, the YMCA of Greater New York says families and partners can contact the aquatics director at a local branch (opens in a new tab) about free lessons for children through NY SWIMS.
• Yourself, prepared. The Red Cross offers a free online course, Becoming an Ambassador for Water Safety (opens in a new tab), for people who want to teach water safety in their community.

Ask speakers to stick to their own expertise and to the facts on official pages. Avoid frightening stories; practical steps work better.

Plan for the people you want to reach

• Time and place. Hold it where your audience already is: after prayers or services, at a PTA meeting, a senior center lunch or a weekend class.
• Language. Recruit a bilingual co-facilitator, and give handouts in the languages your audience reads when you can.
• Childcare. Parents of young kids can come if someone watches the children, away from any water.
• Access. Choose a step-free room, and offer large-print handouts for older adults.
• Sensitivity. Someone in the room may have lost a loved one to drowning. Say at the start that people can step out at any time, and have grief support information ready; see grief support resources.

Printables and take-home materials

Send people home with something they will use this week:

Add a short local list: the nearest free or low-cost swim lessons, CPR class dates, and the lifeguarded pools and beaches nearby. For New York City, see free swim lessons in NYC.

After the workshop

• A week later, send everyone the swim lesson and CPR links again.
• Ask, "Did anyone sign up for lessons or a CPR class?" and celebrate it.
• Keep a simple count of who came and what they did next, so you can improve the next session.
• Plan the next one before swim season: May is National Water Safety Month, and July 25 is World Drowning Prevention Day. See how to take part.

Working with the Amin Foundation

The Amin Foundation is working toward bringing water safety workshops to schools, faith communities and community groups. Everything on this page is free to use today, with no sign-up. If you're planning a workshop and want to tell us about it, or you'd like to work together in the future, contact us through our partner page. You can also volunteer.

What you can do today

• Choose your audience and write your one goal in a sentence.
• Download the lesson plan that fits, and read it once.
• Pick two possible dates and ask your host space.
• If you're in NYC and expect 15 or more people, request the FDNY mobile CPR unit.
• Print the take-home materials.