Programs

Swim Program

Shawn D Delifus Foundationis dedicated to helping the community stay healthy and active, we offer an 8-session program that teaches fun, innovative hand on techniques to swimming.  A participants’ success is determined by their motivation and parents involvement.  Our goal is to help under-served families participate in the fundamental of swimming while being educated on healthy choices.    Services include

• SDD Citywide Swim Meet: SDD will host a citywide meet; where swimmers will be recognized for their talents.  All proceeds from the meet will benefit the SDD foundation to increase its services to families in the community
• Annual Shawn D Delifus Day: SDD will collaborate with YMCA to dedicate 1 day as the Shawn D Delfius day.  This day will be filled with education, exercise, activities, music, and food. 
• Fresh Fruit Friday– Offers seniors (55 & above) exercise demonstrations while providing fresh fruits and vegetables to promote health eating and living.  
• Community Exercise Program-Provide community exercise and healthy snacking to prevent Diabetes and Heart Disease.  Monthly drawings will offer 17 classes of free exercise with D & J Power Fitness.  
• Educational Enhancement Program-Provide local churches with funding resources to create and develop educational programs for school age children (1^st-12^th grade)
• Transportation-offer transportation to families that are unable to participate due to transportation issues.  

Nutrition and Wellness Education

Shawn D Delifus will provide each participant and the community the opportunity to participate in bi-monthly nutrition classes.  This class will offer nutrition and cooking demonstrations to ensure proper techniques for healthy eating.  

Life Guard Certification

Shawn D. Delifus Foundation Lifeguard Pre-Certification Course, Character Building and Leadership Prerequisites

Shawn D. Delifus Foundation has taken a proactive approach in addressing the under-representation of communities of color in aquatic sports and activities by innovative means in preparing our teens and pre-teens for summer employment, swim teams and presumptive scholarships to higher levels of education and athletic competition. We ensure success by offering free lifeguard pre-certification training that upon completion fills the gap of lifeguards in our communities. Our training is imperative to the process of getting hired on as an official Red Cross lifeguard, it provides a child with needed skills to pass the actual Red Cross certification test “only the Red Cross” is authorized to certify, we serve as a vessel for this certification. Our detailed training includes both dry-water and wet water training, hands-on skills as well as comprehension on written tests. Based on the statistics below, we know there is a need to increase the number of African American certified lifeguards serving local pools in the Jacksonville area. The Shawn D. Delifus Foundation is poised to fulfill the need by producing pre-certified lifeguards prepared for the Red Cross program.

The Red Cross only certifies 15-year-olds and above however, children under age 15 cannot be state certified but as a diversion to other activities all children are encouraged to apply and remain in program until the certifiable age requirement is met.

Lifeguarding: Full Course Certification

This option is for those training for the first time or for those whose certifications have expired. This course is available in traditional, in-person course format (25 hours, 20 minutes) and the bended learning course format (19.5 hours in person, 7.5 hours online). The pre-requisites for this course include being 15 years of age and having passed the pre-course swimming skills test.

Junior Lifeguard Pre-Certification

No minimum age requirement:

• Student parents “must” be disciplined and dedicated to their children’s development and ambition, ensuring children is prepared for the next day training (sleep), arriving on-time every time “don’t apply” if adults can’t meet these requirements.
• Parents must commit to continued open water training habits by visiting pools
• Students must not miss training sessions
• Students must arrive 15minutes prior to each training session
• Students must have a computer at home (resources available) upon request
• Students must have good study habits (dry and wet water)
• Students and parents must have good listening skills to develop their own training skills

Shawn D. Delifus does not discriminate based on race, religion, age, religion, disability, gender, or sexual preference.