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Sacramento Parks reports 17 pools, heavy youth employment and $100,000 in swim scholarships
Summary
City aquatics staff told the Youth Commission the department runs 17 pools, employed about 196 part-time (98% youth) staff in 2025, delivered nearly 100,000 recreation visits, and provided roughly $100,000 in scholarships and fee waivers last year.
Patrick Meridon, aquatics recreation supervisor for the City of Sacramento, presented the department’s 2025 operations to the Youth Commission on May 4, highlighting youth employment, lessons and scholarships.
Meridon said the city operated 17 pools across council districts in 2025, employed about 196 part-time staff who together worked roughly 86,000–87,000 hours, and saw just under 100,000 recreational swim visits. He said 98% of part-time pool staff are youth, making aquatics a significant youth employer in the city.
On programs, Meridon noted multiple learn-to-swim tracks (paid lessons, basic free water-safety classes, junior lifeguard camps, and lifeguard certification). He told commissioners the department provided approximately $63,000 in waived fees for adult programs and more than $100,000 in total scholarship reimbursements for 2025. The summer reading partnership with the Sacramento Public Library covered about $23,000 in admissions and recorded 3,785 admissions last year, roughly two-thirds youth (about 2,067 youth admissions).
Meridon described partnerships and rentals: the North Natomas Aquatic Center hosts large televised meets, user groups such as DART swim team, synchronized swimming and water polo, and the department logged roughly 14,000 lane hours of rentals. He said the department is an American Red Cross–licensed training provider and is among the top lifeguard-certification providers in Northern California.
Commissioners asked about how scholarship eligibility is determined. "All of our programs run by the city ... the majority of them youth qualify for what we call the Youth Program Scholarship Fund scholarships. That's a need-based scholarship," a staff member, who identified as Sean, said, adding eligibility is generally income-related or tied to government assistance and that the fund can be applied at any pool.
Meridon and staff said the department is focused on maintaining aging pools and improving onboarding and recruitment pipelines to keep staffing levels high; they noted work such as resurfacing at Meadowview and reopening Southside Pool in 2025. No formal vote was required; the item was received and discussed.
What this means: Aquatics provides significant youth employment and access programming citywide; commissioners pressed staff for more outreach and transparency about scholarship distribution and transition rates from junior lifeguard programs to lifeguard certification.
