We are proud to report that Color the Water is fully operational and has been able to go launch as an independent nonprofit organization thanks to LA2050. (See our original proposal here.) LA2050 funds have allowed us to not only maintain our operations but also expand our efforts to reach more people in more ways. Most importantly, we've been able to reach the communities we serve with much more depth and scale than would have otherwise been possible.

First Half Wins:

The goals we set were:

1) to continue our mission to create 10,000 autonomous surfers by 2050 and

2) create a cultural paradigm shift that liberates surfing from systemic racism.

It's a long way to go, but we believe we are taking solid steps towards that aim!

• 501(c)3: It's official | Shortly after the grants challenge ended, we received word of our non-profit status! Thanks to LA2050's grant structure, we can enter into this world with support and also autonomy that helps dismantle the nonprofit industrial complex!
• Organic growth of our community | Despite COVID, the growth of our community has been steady. Our BIPOC learners are also our volunteers, photographers, instructors, and organizational infrastructure specialists. This chance to co-create this space ourselves has been everything!

A group of our surfers at Surf Chase Sunday: a chance for autonomous surfers to explore

• Progress toward autonomy | Surf autonomy is a dynamic concept, and more and more surfers are finding themselves capable in ways they never thought possible. The struggle continues, and we continue to keep one another safe, supported, and headed toward liberation.

Amanda, an SF transplant and newly autonomous surfer, meets Dorian at her first CTW surf!

• Expansion into all facets of our mission | We've continued to expand at a pace that is meant to last, largely in part to the support and autonomy that LA2050 resources have provided. Here are how the four major facets of our mission have been thriving…

1. Instruction: Since August, we have been able to maintain lessons for six days a week with two full time instructors (and five volunteers) available for a 1-to-2 instructor to learner ratio, offering 1.5 hour lessons with all gear and instruction included. More than that, though, our learning paradigm has grown into teaching how to surf at peak enjoyment, self-acceptance and love, and a release from the pressures of performance and self-deprecation that often come with learning publicly, especially as POC adults.

Isabella gets up for one of her best rides after a stabilizing nudge from David.

Education: We've been quietly developing educational material on surf history, surf instruction, and surf culture, and distributing it within our community.

3. Media Representation: Whether it be through our own channels or through major media outlets, the representation we have been able to establish and spread has reached millions!

We've started creating POC surfer GIFs for quick representation and they've reached millions!

Community: The safe space we provide has been the heart and soul of Color the Water and continues to flourish and grow. For us as POC to have access to a coastline and ocean where so many of us have felt other-ed, where we can develop a culture designed specifically with liberation and equity in mind, has been deeply meaningful to us all.

Our CTW Family's 2nd Annual Dia de los Muertos Observance/Halloween Surf Session

• What are “The Metrics"?
  • “Do y'all consider the beach a park, and the ocean a playground?" | We asked this question at the first information session, as it's paramount to who we are and what we do. The ocean is as joyful and healing of a playground as any in the world, and it's a birthright of Angelenos that far too often isn't an accessible open space for POC. We are fighting to change that.
  • Riding waves across generations | Intergenerational play has been one of the most joyous aspects of Color the Water. Mothers who have come to get lessons for their children have become surfers themselves, surfers who wanted community are now watching their children grow in a community that loves and cherishes all aspects of their identity. Our collegiate members are preparing and hoping to carry the Color the Water torch into the future, and we have the capacity to put them into positions to prepare, and compensate them while we are at it thanks to LA2050!

Suji knows CTW as their “surf 'commuty.'" They are now using David's head to pop up!

• Not the safety you'd expect, but the safety we need. | Perceived neighborhood safety often comes with a set of images and expectations. For us though, in some ways that is inverted. It is in the places often seen as “safe" that we feel most vulnerable, targeted, and marginalized. Surf culture is absolutely part of this, where our safety as surfers of color is constantly proven fleeting. With our community spaces and functions, we can provide safety from the ocean, but most importantly, safety from the range of racist aggressions that happen in surfing. When we are together, we are at our safest, and that is something so many POC yearn for every day.
• CTW by the Numbers
  • From 800 to 1K surfers signed up! (With no intentional marketing, our base is steadily growing. With further development, our capacity will hopefully increase to address the demand!)
  • Over 200 more people given lessons during this grant period
  • Nearly 100 newly autonomous surfers developed and supported.
  • Over 20 official community gatherings with surf dances!
  • Nearly 200 community surf sessions held
  • 3 community based fundraisers
  • 1 Color the Water newborn that already surfed in mommy's tummy!
• More Wins | Additional Successes
  • Nick Gabaldon Paddle | A 12-mile paddle in partnership with the Black Surfers Collective that our 14 year old surfer Mateo completed with David to honor POC surf legend Nick Gabaldon.

Mateo and David pose with BSC Legends Rick and Greg after the 12-mile paddle.

• CTW Wave-a-thon | A community-based fundraiser that was covered by NBC and that will become an integral part of our fundraising/storytelling tradition.
• 30x30 Advocacy | We've teamed up with Surfrider for events like speaking at the Ohana Festival and collaborating on their One Watershed Program. We've now entered into advocacy by signing onto the 30x30 initiative, which advocates for ocean conservationism and equitable coastal access.
• Surf Therapy | With the support of established surf therapy groups and practitioners, we are developing our own Surf Therapy program, which harnesses the power of the ocean while also creating intention around developing a program that specifically addresses POC mental health.

When conditions permit, we are going to begin our Waves of Grief surf therapy program.

• BIPOC shaper collective | We've just recently connected with two BIPOC shapers are just starting out, and we are thrilled to have them as our POC shapers of the future. Ben is an Asian American man who grew up in El Segundo and is passionate about bringing more POC into the surfer/shaper knowledge base, and Jazz is a multi-racial WOC shaper that wants to see more women of color making boards and surfing them!

Theresa holds a board newly snapped in half. Our shapers collective is getting her a new one!

• Challenges accepted
  • Continued racism in surfing | We've continually faced racism in surfing and though it affirms our mission, it also challenges us in many ways with implementation. There are the egregious incidents – being spit on and called “dumb b****" while saying “I am surprised you even know to swim"; being kicked out of the water, throwing and damaging a board off our head only to have the police called on us; being told that we “stole" a wave made to leave the ocean. There's also the micro-aggressions – being told “show some respect. You don't live here, you have to drive here." Our surfers, especially our women of color, are constantly barraged with unsolicited advice and unwanted advances by old, white men. These are things surfers face as they reach autonomy. There are countless other instances, often met with victim blaming and gaslighting. We are developing upstander tools and we have our own codes of safety in place to protect our surfers, but the message is clear – when it comes to surfing and being of color, our feelings of non-safety are real. The struggle continues.
  • How to become autonomous ourselves | Color the Water is aiming to become autonomous, but we still need support in order to get there without having to scale back. The combination of fundraisers, drives, sliding scale private lessons, anti-racist surf apparel development, and mutual aid are what we hope can keep us growing. We just need time to continue to build all this out. Our Patreon page also has steadily grown without much of any advertisement, and we hope it can continue.
  • How to reach more marginalized communities | There are simply communities that we do not currently reach. Those without swimming knowledge or ocean comfort, those who cannot drive themselves to the coast, and children who don't have means are some of the groups we know we have yet to access. Finding ways to create space for them is a challenge we think about often, and are hoping to continue to find solutions for.

Ty is our Paralympic hopeful. We aim to find ways to access the POC disabled community.

• Thinking of a Master 6-Month Plan | A Look Ahead
  • CTW Film Festival | Short films, music videos, and creative media made for us, by us, with the intention of creating a safe space for the wide array of journeys and identities to be illuminated. We will have our first one soon, and Rahzizi has already created his film!
  • Shaping and designing our own boards | A big part of our BIPOC Shaper Collective is education. The chance to learn how to create our own boards is a big step in realizing our vision. Ben and Jazz, while being amplified in our surf world, are also going to be helping us learn to shape!
  • CTW anti-racist surf apparel | Our community of graphic artists have so many concepts and ideas to share now that surfing is a part of our culture, and we are here to provide space for them to flourish while also infusing surf culture with apparel designed to address systems and express messages of anti-racism, equity, and liberation.

This shirt will be the first of many designs we hope to get out alongside educational material!

• Checking Ourselves at the End | Our Evaluation Plans
  • Keeping the pulse of our community | The number of surfers we have supported is important to us, but more important than that is the depth and quality of the space we hold for the people that entrusted us with their anti-racist surf journey. Through constant communication and learning, as well as traditional tools of Monitoring and Evaluation, we aim to constantly be aware of how our community feels about the space we are creating together. This will always be our highest priority.

Nate and Jameelah carpooled to meet us for a winter morning surf.

• Seeing our numbers across are channels | The reach of our social media, the number of people we have served and provided opportunity for, and the projects we are able to implement will indicate to us that we are on the right track toward our mission of liberating surfing through instruction, education, and representation.
• Our financial wellness & sustainability | As we enter into the home stretch of this grant window, we have a lot to figure out. We aim for autonomy for ourselves, but we are not yet there. Without funding, we will not be able to continue this. As mentioned above, we are going to try and find ways to sustain ourselves. Until then, we are thankful for LA2050 and this period of time and hope to continue to be able to further our mission with the kind of support that has allowed the chance to even imagine a Los Angeles in the year 2050 and beyond.

To find out more about how you can support Color the Water, please visit our website at www.colorthewater.org

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