File photo. 

Five Long Beach pools will provide swimming lessons to children as early as June 1 as part of LA84 Foundation’s annual swimming initiative aimed at reducing the risk of drowning, the nonprofit recently announced.

Thanks to more than $400,000 in grants for the nonprofit’s annual Summer Swim program, about 20,000 children will be able to take part in swimming and water sports instruction at free or reduced rates at 100 pools across the counties of Los Angeles and Ventura this summer, according to a press release.

According to USA Swimming, 70 percent of black children and 60 percent of Latino children cannot swim, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that drowning is one of the leading causes of unintentional death among children and young adults in the U.S., the release also stated.

Olympic gold medalist swimmer Jessica Hardy, a Woodrow Wilson Classical High School alumnus, will join LA84 Foundation President Anita L. DeFrantz in a news conference at the Expo Center in Los Angeles this Thursday, launching the nonprofit’s 30-year-old program.

Other guests will include Rick Gridley, the public affairs director for Big 5, which is the program’s new sponsor, and city officials.

The five participating Long Beach facilities include:

• Martin Luther King Jr. Pool, 1910 Lemon Avenue
• Millikan High School Pool, 2800 Snowden Avenue
• Silverado Pool, 1540 West 32nd Street
• Jordan High School Pool, 6500 Atlantic Avenue
• Belmont Pool, 4320 Olympic Plaza

The sites will provide swimming, water polo, synchronized swimming or diving lessons.

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