The top two causes of death among children in Florida in 2020 were unsafe sleep and drowning. In an effort to help mitigate these dangers and protect children in Manatee County, the Kayjan Charitable Fund of Manatee Community Foundation (MCF) has awarded a grant of $8,000 to Safe Children Coalition (SCC) to support an educational campaign about water safety and safe sleeping.

In Florida last year, unsafe sleep caused 69 infant deaths, two of which were in Manatee County—and 27 children in Florida drowned; three of those deaths occurred in Manatee County. The majority of these children were under the age of 4—the children drowned in a pool or hot tub during a time when they were not being closely supervised by their parents or other caretakers. In 95 percent of these instances, a swim gate was left open.  The investment from MCF will enable SCC to launch a safe sleep educational campaign and give sleep safety and water safety kits to the parents the organization serves in Manatee County.