YOUR TOWN

Early Learning Coalition offers new water safety initiative with Josh the Baby Otter

Each month, a trained volunteer for ELCFV will visit local early learning programs to promote the importance of early childhood water safety training to prevent drowning.

By Observer Staff
| 4:00 p.m. September 7, 2023

ELCFV's Literacy Initiatives Coordinator Erica Garris poses with Josh the Otter. Courtesy photo

Ormond Beach Observer
Your Town

The Early Learning Coalition of Flagler & Volusia has launched a new initiative to be offered to child care centers in Flagler and Volusia counties.

The Josh the Otter Water Safety & Awareness Project teaches young children about the importance of water safety through educational activities and its mascot, Josh the Baby Otter.

Each month, a trained volunteer for ELCFV will visit local early learning programs to promote the importance of early childhood water safety training to prevent drowning. The volunteer will read "Josh the Baby Otter," by Blake Collingsworth, and provide resources to go home with children, including their own copy of the book.

Collingsworth started the Josh the Otter program in 2008 after his 2-year-old son Joshua died after being found unconscious and unresponsive in the family’s pool.

Collingsworth also developed the Float 4 Life water safety program, which provides customized one-on-one lessons for children to teach how to jump or fall into the water and recover to a back float without assistance.

In Flagler and Volusia counties, the program is facilitated by Easterseals of Northeast Central Florida.

Drowning is the primary cause of accidental death for children under the age of 5 and the second leading cause of accidental death for children fourteen and under, according to Centers for Disease Control.