Last week, Asphalt Green reopened the swimming pool at River East Elementary School in East Harlem alongside the Stand By Me foundation and representatives from the NYC Department of Education. The pool, which had been unused since 2015, was rehabilitated over the summer through funding from the DOE based on a 2023 feasibility study conducted by Asphalt Green. After years of work, students, parents, local officials, and even Olympians gathered on October 26 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate, underscoring the collective dedication required to making swimming accessible to all.
Asphalt Green will bring its free Wave Makers program to River East, offering swim lessons to over 500 public school students in District 4. The groundbreaking partnership made possible through partnerships with Council Members Julie Menin, Shekar Krishnan, and the Gray Foundation, provides second graders with comprehensive swim instruction aimed at fostering both water safety and a passion for the sport. In addition, the pool will host pre-competitive swim programming with support from the Stand By Me Swimming Foundation, so that children from East Harlem have a clear pathway to pursue competitive swimming through our Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics (AGUA) Swim Team.
Andrew Bryan, Director of Citywide Aquatics Programs at Asphalt Green, expressed excitement over this expansion, highlighting how River East represents a step toward making swimming accessible across NYC schools. “With Wave Makers soon reaching every borough, we’re thrilled to bring our leadership to River East to empower more students with life-saving swim skills and athletic aspirations,” he said.
With River East’s reopening, Asphalt Green is offering New York City’s youth unprecedented access to swim instruction and showing that addressing structural inequities to sport is a team effort. As Asphalt Green CEO Jordan Brackett shared, "Expanding our aquatics programming to River East Elementary will help us make tremendous progress on our mission to transform lives through sports, fitness, and play for all.”