Today we’d like to introduce you to Christi Brown.
Hi Christi, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Judah Brown Project is a non-profit (501c3) organization that was created in 2016, after the drowning death of my son, 3-year-old Judah Levi Brown. When he drowned, I was not aware that drowning is the number one cause of death for children ages 1-4 years old. I didn’t know it would only take 30 seconds for a young child to drown and I didn’t know that drowning is completely silent. I was not taught this by pediatricians, educators, or anyone else I came across that might help me learn about the safety of my children. I learned after Judah’s death that most parents are not taught these things.
JBP was created shortly after Judah’s death to educate parents, caregivers, professionals, and children about the dangers of drowning, how often it happens, how silent and fast it is, and how to prevent it from happening.
Initially, we focused on putting water safety materials in the hands of pediatricians, asking them to share this info with the families they serve. But we knew we needed to do more.
What do we do now:
Education: We have developed a water safety curriculum that has been used in 11 school districts (and growing) in the Houston, TX area. We have also taught and continue to teach countless parent and caregiver classes on water safety and drowning prevention, as well as just as many professional trainings for organizations such as Parks and Rec, Health Departments, Teachers, School Counselors, Pediatricians, Pool service providers, pool builders, and so many more. All of our curriculum is also available free and online, where we have served schools across the US, Canada, Africa, and even China. We are also translating it into Spanish to better serve our community. No need to know about water safety before using it. We do that for you!
Pamphlets: We created a water safety pamphlet that has all of the layers of protection that keep children safer around water, and we have asked schools and pediatricians to give these pamphlets to the families they serve. We also have our pamphlets with pool builders, pool service companies, realtors, and various other pediatric settings. To date, we have over 500 offices nationwide that carry and pass out our pamphlets.
Scholarships: We believe all children should have access to life-saving swim lessons. Being involved in quality swim lessons is associated with an 88% decrease in childhood drownings. We believe cost should not be a barrier to a child becoming skilled in the water. Every year we work to provide as many scholarships as we can to families who cannot afford these lessons. We have currently given out over $72,000 in scholarships to families and have skilled over 185 children in the water through this program. We give scholarships for survival swim lessons to children under 6 years old and traditional swim scholarships to children 6 and over.
CPR classes: Judah Brown Project hosts CPR classes at low cost to no cost for anyone 8 years old and over so that they can be prepared in case a drowning does occur. We have given 11 classes and have taught 119 people how to save someone’s life.
Honoring Families: We know personally that the hardest thing anyone will ever have to go through is losing a child. We also know that families who do lose a child are very fearful that people will forget their child. Because of this, we honor every family we are told about who has lost a child to drowning in various ways. We also provide bereavement resources for these families. It is a simple way that we say, “Your child is not forgotten”. We currently honor 168 families this way.
Advocacy: We work to help advocate in our community for better water safety programs. We successfully helped pass HB1588 (which includes the Judah Brown Drowning Prevention Act) that stops Homeowner Associations from telling homeowners that they can’t put pool safety fences around their pools in Texas.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
As you can imagine, change-making work and shifting society’s perspective on water safety and drowning prevention is not an easy road. When we started, we had a lot of pushback about some of the ways we advocate to keep children safer around water, including the use of puddle jumpers or any flotation device frequently in pools. We explain that doing this creates a false sense of safety for a young child and makes them think they can float or swim on their own when they really can’t. Then, when it’s not swim time anymore, and they don’t have the devices on, they sneak back to the water, and that’s when they drown. 69% of young child drownings happen during non-swim time.
But now that the body of evidence (including surveillance video footage and children who survived explaining why they went back to the water without their devices) is mounting, parents are listening more and are ready to prioritize getting kids into lessons instead of using devices.
The pandemic was another struggle because so much of what we do is in person. But we pivoted and brought all of our trainings online, and because of that, our reach grew exponentially.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We offer water safety education classes, scholarships for families who can’t afford lessons, bereavement help and resources for those who have lost a child, CPR classes, and materials that help educate parents on how to keep their children safer around water.
Our classes are tailored to each age group and can be found online at our website: judahbrownproject.org.
What sets us apart from others is our education program. We offer training for kids of all ages, adults, professionals, parents and caregivers, babysitters, lifeguards and various other groups. Most organizations like ours that do offer any in-classroom training offer it to one specific age group. The fact that we are working to offer all of this in Spanish as well, also sets us apart.
We are known for our advocacy for swim lessons instead of overusing flotation devices, and we are also known for our wide reach on social media and through our training programs.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Don’t think drowning can’t happen to you. It happens every day to good, careful parents and to good kids. It can happen to anyone. Please visit us at judahbrownproject.org to learn more or on social media (Facebook and Instagram at Judah Brown Project and on TikTok at judah.brown.project. Feel free to email me with any questions: christi@judahbrownproject.org.
Contact Info:
- Website: judahbrownproject.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/judahbrownproject/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/judahbrownproject/
