Public swimming pools across the country have struggled to remain open in recent years as declining interest and pandemic disruption have dried up the supply of new lifeguards. In Philadelphia, a public-private partnership between Drexel, Philadelphia’s Department of Parks & Recreation and FAB Youth Philly — a workforce development organization — helped to keep pools running last summer by training city teens to become lifeguards.
The collaboration lasted over 12 weeks of training, after which 13 lifeguards hired by Parks & Rec allowed the city to reopen Lee Cultural Center Pool in West Philadelphia and keep others staffed during the summer of 2023.
The teens completed their training in the Drexel Recreation Center pool, courtesy of Drexel Athletics, with a certified trainer from Parks & Recreation. A physician and residents from St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, which Drexel co-owns with Tower Health, completed physical exams for the aspiring lifeguards at the Community Wellness Hub in the Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships.
Trainees received $12 an hour, through the West Philadelphia Promise Neighborhood, a U.S. Department of Education-funded program Drexel operates to create “cradle to career” opportunities for children living or attending schools in a federally designated Promise Zone area of West Philadelphia. Once hired, the lifeguards earned $16 an hour.
Photos: Jeff Fusco
1. THE POOL
The Lee Cultural Center pool reopened after a three-year closure with lifeguards from the program.
2. THE TRAINEES
Zahir Rivera and Luvly Johnson passed Philadelphia’s lifeguard course by swimming 12 laps, diving 13 feet to retrieve a 10-pound brick and swimming backward with the brick, then treading water for two minutes.
3. THE FACILITATOR
Rachel Viddy is project director of the West Philadelphia Promise Neighborhood initiative, part of Drexel’s Office of University and Community Partnerships. The initiative outfitted the teens with bathing caps, suits, goggles and flip flops. “This lifeguard training program serves as a powerful model illustrating the strength of partnership and community and how one program can meet many needs,” says Viddy.
4. THE PARTNER
Rebecca Fabiano is president and founder of Fab Youth Philly, which helped the trainees pursue jobs and create résumés and LinkedIn profiles. “We know that young people who are employed as teenagers have a greater lifetime earning than those who are not, and they’re also more employable as adults,” she says.