Teton Valley Aquatics was formed in 2016 in response to community support and the need for a leading organization to take on the task of pursuing the dream to have an aquatics facility in Teton Valley. The 2014 Teton County, Idaho Recreation Master Plan showed the top priority of survey respondents was for a Community Recreation Center, with 93% of those respondents stating the number one feature to be included in the center should be an indoor swimming facility. Teton Valley Aquatics has since partnered with the City of Driggs to bring this needed facility to life. In the last four years, TVA has worked from the ground up establishing relationships within and around our surrounding community to build the framework that is needed to pursue a project of this size. In 2019 we completed a feasibility study along with creating criteria for site selection. At the beginning of 2020 we have used our site selection criteria to evaluate eight different locations within the Driggs City limits and are currently pursuing our top site. While investing time and energy into this process we also built our programming within the valley by offering swim lessons, water safety education, and Life Jacket Loaner Stations at three Teton River launch sites, engaging over 500 community members annually.

Timeline to Teton Valley Aquatic Center

Unemployed and underemployed in Driggs is 56% and in Victor is 35%.
These are the individuals who cannot afford to travel for swim lessons. The United Way has created ALICE reports studying "Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed" Individuals. In other words, they are studying the underemployed. Their most recent study of the Pacific Northwest includes studies of Teton County, Idaho (page 258 of document, 268 if in PDF). Percentage unemployed and underemployed in Driggs is 56% and in Victor is 35%. These are the individuals who cannot afford to travel for swim lessons. We can significantly make a difference to these individuals, and potentially SAVE LIVES by creating an aquatics center here.

Aquatics center in our valley will bring 4 full time professional level jobs, as well as 12-24 part time jobs.
In addition to the unemployed and underemployed studies, the ALICE report goes further and finds what it has determined as the "survival budget" to actually pay your rent, eat 3 meals (but does not account for savings.) In Teton County, it determines this wage to be $9.61 for a single person working full time, and $31.72 for a person to raise enough to support a traditional 4 person family (defined by United Way as 2 adults, one preschooler and one infant). Having an aquatics center in our valley will bring 4 full time professional level jobs, as well as 12-24 part time jobs that will pay at/above these "survival wage" levels, helping to bring job stability to our area, and allowing working families to make a life here.

United Way Alice Report

1. Drowning is responsible for more deaths in children ages 1-4 than any other cause except birth defects.
2. Participation in formal swimming lessons can reduce the risk of drowning among children aged 1 to 4 years.
3. Minorities and individuals of lower socio-economic status drown at greater rates than whites, with greatest disparity between ages 5-18.

Sources
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [online]. [cited 2016Nov 28]. Available from: URL: http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars.
2. Brenner RA, Taneja GS, Haynie DL, Trumble AC, Qian C, Klinger RM, Klevanoff MA. Association between swimming lessons and drowning in childhood: A case-control study. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine 2009;163(3):203-10.
2. Yang L, Nong QQ, Li CL, Feng QM, Lo SK. Risk factors for childhood drowning in rural regions of a developing country : a case-control study. Injury Prevention, 2007; 13:178-182
3. Gilchrist J, Parker EM. Racial/ethnic disparities in fatal unintentional drowning among persons aged ≤29 years—United States, 1999–2010. MMWR 2014;63:421–6.