By J.A. Jones, Staff Writer
ST. PETE and TAMPA BAY – While lifeguard instructor and water safety advocate Kymbriell Finch was born in Decatur, GA, “South St. Petersburg is my home,” she states unequivocally.
Finch travels throughout the Greater Tampa Bay Area as Swim with Kym, LLC, and also provides free programming through her nonprofit organization Courageous Leap.
Swim with Kym, LLC, provides various water and water-safety-related services, including private and group swim lessons, lifeguard rentals, first aid and CPR training, lifeguard training, adaptive aquatics, and educational water safety teachings.
Through Swim with Kym, Finch says she was able to offer affordable and accessible swim lesson opportunities to local youth and groups. “While services were offered to everyone, it was my priority to prioritize Black youth, since they are the most disadvantaged group regarding drowning statistics,” she noted.
But Finch wanted to offer more than just swim lessons – she wanted to stay in contact with her students once they learned how to swim. “I didn’t want those opportunities for mentorship to dissolve just because they’d completed all they needed to learn through my swim program,” the water-loving advocate explained.
Her nonprofit, Courageous Leap Inc, was named after her grandfather, Freddie Lee Crawford, and the St. Pete police officers known as the Courageous 12. Finch birthed the organization to give more inclusive and innovative aquatic experiences to students of all ages.
“Whether it’s boating excursions, paddle boarding and surfing lessons, fishing trips, or marine summer camps, I wanted my students to learn to connect with aquatic spaces in multiple ways and expand their curiosity beyond the pool deck,” she added.
In 2024 Finch’s organization was granted resources to cultivate a women’s only aquatic academy, called “Women Make Waves Movement.”
Through funding from the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, the organization received a Bay-Mini Grant that allowed her team to offer no-cost swim lessons, estuary education with USF St. Pete, and boating excursions with the Freedom Boat Club. Participants learned how to swim and gained the confidence to explore local waterways and engage in estuaries.
“The feedback we received from the women definitely left us inspired to create more education water-based lessons, especially for adults,” she acknowledged.
Last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 544, the Swim Lesson Voucher Program, stating that low-income families with children under the age of five could receive free swim lesson vouchers covered by the state of Florida.
Finch applied on behalf of Courageous Leap Inc. to be a swim lesson vendor for families based in Pinellas County, and in early 2025 her organization was selected.
She thanked Brother John Muhammad and Commissioner Rene Flowers for their letters of recommendation and continued support in helping her initiate this new venture.
Councilman Bro. John Muhammad
“This accomplishment brings me joy because it alleviates the pressure of having to afford private or group swim lessons,” said Finch – who says cost is a primary reason when parents postpone swim lessons.
Now, she said, parents will no longer have to choose “between household necessities or water safety.”
Families can register their children and know that they will receive proficient and professional lessons that can prevent accidental drownings.
The requirements needed to participate in the Swim Lesson Voucher Program are:
- Proof of income (gross family income of no more than 200% of the federal poverty guidelines)
- Proof of Florida residency
- Child’s date of birth (only children ages four and younger at the time of application are eligible)
The application can be found at www.watersmartfl.com.
“Once the application has been approved, families can use my contact information found on the official vendor’s list to confirm a schedule for eight free swim lessons,” stated Finch.
For more information and to keep up with Finch’s water advocacy, visit the website, www.yourcourageousleap.co, and follow on Instagram, @courageousleap and Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/swimwkym.
