ICW Director Michael Randazzo’s Remarks at NYC Aquatics Symposium

NOTE: The the New York City Aquatics Symposium was held on August 18 at Brooklyn Law School. Representatives from NYC Parks, the YMCA, the Red Cross, NYC DOE, the NYC City Council as well as non-profits including Inclusive Community Wellness (ICW), the Magnus Mukoro Foundation, Musa Swims, + Pool, Rising Tide Effect, Swim Strong Foundation and Tankproof discussed and debated solutions to these and other concerns such as drowning, a dearth of learn-to-swim instruction and difficult access to water.

Good morning. My name is Michael Randazzo, and I am the Executive Director of Inclusive Community Wellness, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit dedicated to New Yorkers’ health and well-being. In that capacity I am involved with a number of different things, but the main thing today is that I am here today to collaborate with you all and find better ways we can get kids in the water, get kids to become lifeguards and make pools in our city as accessible as possible.

But before I get into prepared notes, I want to say thank you to everyone who’s here today. It’s fantastic that you all came to Downtown Brooklyn in late August. You’re not in the Hamptons, right?

Carl Quigley presenting at NYC Aquatics Symposium. Photo: M. Randazzo

This symposium has been a team effort which you will see throughout the dialogue today. Peter Kohnstamm, Swim for Life. Cynthia McKnight, Brooklyn Borough Appointee and President of District 13 CEC and a great champion for so many schools in our community. Carl Quigley: Carl is my mentor. He is a long-time St. Francis Aquatics Director, water polo guy, Far Rockaway guy.  Rabbi Yaakov Raskin, Chabad of Brooklyn Heights. Shawn Slevin, Swim Strong Foundation. Shawn is also of Far Rockaway and is a tireless advocate for all things aquatics in New York City. Eugene Spatz, former Director, LIU, Sports Sciences Division and founder of On Your Mark. Gene is not here today but he is very involved in shaping all I do at ICW. Roberta Weisbrod, Executive Director, Worldwide Ferry Safety Association. Perry Williams, Community Activist, Family & Youth Advocate. And my dear friend and former college classmate, Elliot Kipnis, new board president at ICW.

We are expecting and some of them are already in the room, a number of representatives of elected officials. One of the main parts of this event is that the issues of water safety and equitable access to water are getting a great deal of attention from politicians.

They include Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine. Harvey Epstein of the 74th Assembly District, CM Shekar Krishnan 25th District, CM Charles Baron 42nd District, CM Crystal Hudson 35th District, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr., CM Rita Joseph 40th District, CM Lincoln Restler 33rd District and CM Selvena Brooks-Powers 31st District, represented by Jack Seigenthaler.

I’d also like to thank Chris Gibbons, Michael Lacari and the staff here at Brooklyn Law School. I don’t think we could have found a better venue for our discussion.

We’re all here because we care so much about issues around access to water and who does / does not get to swim. How kids learn to swim—at what age and where—and how they go from learning to being on a swim or water polo team and then going on to being a lifeguard and a career in aquatics. All of you either have a direct association or understanding about this.

Like all of you, I care about these issues and hope in the time we have here today we can discuss things as openly and frankly as possible. We’re not going to solve anything in three hours, but we hope to present documentation on what was discussed today.

Magnus Mukoro and players from Young Rock Soccer. Photo: Sheridan Jack-Browne Mukoro

Another reason I’m here, besides Carl and Gene and many others, is because of Magnus Mukoro. Magnus was one of the founders of Young Rock Soccer, and a dear friend who I collaborated with in Fort Greene.

But he drowned in 2015. He was on vacation with his family and went into a backyard pool—and no one realized he couldn’t swim.

As I put my notes together for today, his untimely death at 45 has left a hole in my heart which will never be filled, and the least I can do to honor his memory is to work to prevent anyone else from drowning. The least I can do to honor his memory is to work to prevent anyone else from drowning.

Now, I’d like to introduce Sheridan Jack-Browne Mukoro, Director of the Magnus Mukoro Foundation.