Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Launches “Get Offline, Get Outside” Campaign and Announces Free Pool Access at State Parks This Summer

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul launched the "Get Offline, Get Outside" summer campaign to promote physical and mental health by helping New York's kids and families to put down their phones and computers, take a break from social media and enjoy recreation and outdoor social gatherings. Governor Hochul kicked off the campaign by announcing that the State is waiving swimming pool entry fees at New York State Parks this summer. Additionally, Governor Hochul launched the $1.5 million Connect Kids to Swimming Instruction Transportation Grant program to help with transportation to swimming lessons as part of the NY SWIMS initiative. This follows the Governor's historic $150 million NY SWIMS investment to support pools in underserved communities - New York's biggest investment in swimming since the New Deal. Governor Hochul made today's announcement at Riverbank State Park Pools in New York City alongside local elected officials.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format.

AUDIO of the Governor's remarks.

PHOTOS of the event will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

It's summer. It's time for New Yorkers to get offline and get outside.

I want to acknowledge our great friends who represent this amazing part of our State, starting with our Senator Cordell Cleare, our Senator Robert Jackson, Assemblymember Al Taylor, Assemblymember Inez Dickens, Assemblymember Manny De Los Santos, Councilmember Yusef Salaam, and our Commissioner Pro Tem of State Parks Randy Simons. Let's give everybody a round of applause. And to all of our legislators, our leaders in the legislature, Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and to Speaker Carl Heastie.

So, now that school's out, there's been a lot of activity here at Riverbank State Park, which is a spectacular jewel in our State Park system. This is the time of year we've all been waiting for: relaxing with friends and barbecuing and swimming. I love to swim. In fact, I'm going to tell you a little story. The only time I ever got a medal for sports in my entire life - growing up in a very competitive family but I did not have the right genes apparently - I was asked when I was 10 years old to swim in a competition. They were missing a boy for the 10-year-old race, right? I was eight, swam against ten-year-old boys, and I want to tell you this: I came in second. But in the interest of being honest, only two of us competed. I still have the medal. I still have the medal, so I love to swim. Second - that's all right. I got to be honest.

But, you know, we have the most beautiful bodies of water throughout our State - our rivers, our lakes, our swimming pools. And one of the reasons we announced this enormous initiative with the support of all these legislators - $150 million to invest in swimming pools and creating more activities, especially in underserved communities - is because it is heartbreaking for me as a mom to know that the number one cause of death for infants ages one, up to toddlers age four, is drowning. And for ages 5 to 14, it's the number two cause of death. But there are racial disparities even within those numbers. Because black children are three times as more likely to drown than their white peer children.

So, let's focus on this. We're making $150 million investment to invest in these pools. Already started in May with $90 million - which is out there for competitive grants - but also, we need more lifeguards. We've seen what happens when you have pools that are open. Hot days, people want to come out and there aren't enough lifeguards. So we raised the salaries in our State Parks last year to attract more. $5 million more to incentivize recruitment. So, we're focusing on lifeguard recruitment. Any takers? You're all free in the summer, right? Just saying.

Also, expanding swim lessons at our State Parks, and why not have free sunscreen to keep everybody from burning? Take advantage of that as well. I also want to announce that we'rewaiving all swimming pool entry fees at State Parks this summer. We want to just make it easier and more affordable for our families - some of them which are struggling.

Also announcing a $1.5 million partnership to fund transportation to and from these swimming lessons, reducing the barriers for our young people to learn how to swim. And organizations, schools, municipalities can apply for that funding right now. So, we're investing in safe places to swim all over the State of New York. But also, I want to talk about keeping our kids healthy.

Yes, it's about getting offline and outside. Why am I saying that? We together, have focused on youth mental health as a top priority of mine and our legislators. And I spent much of last year, summer through fall to winter, convening young people, listening to their stories, and they literally are succumbing to the addiction from these algorithms that are being pushed on them by these companies.

That's why we passed our nation-leading social media legislation. The regulations are being worked out right now, but you're going to be so proud of this. When the rest of the nation follows what we're doing here in the State of New York, saying, "We are taking our children back, letting them be children who have less stress, no mental health challenges, and just let them be children once again as they've always deserved to be. Letting them get outside, free from this."

So, we're going to keep investing in mental health. We're making sure that all of our schools have mental health clinics. That's on top of $1 billion mental health investment. We're looking at the cell phone issue, having conversations around the State with parents and young people and superintendent and members of various communities.

But also, today we're announcing this Get Offline, Get Outside campaign. This is to promote mental health, physical health and encouraging families and our kids to just go to a throwback time. Think about when you were young, what you did with your time. You kick ball as you played catch, you swam. You just enjoyed life. You weren't sitting indoors, holding being held captive to your cell phone.

So that's our advice. Don't scroll through life. Just dive in and let's get it started. So, let's go say hi to some of the young people here and enjoy the outdoors. Thank you, everybody.

Contact the Governor's Press Office