California Parks and Recreation responds regarding OWO
The department tells me that their grants are rigorously audited.
Over the weekend, I wrote an update regarding the saga surrounding the California non-profit One With the Ocean (OWO).
I investigated that group in 2022, finding that OWO gave its founder and only employee, Bryan Mineo, an exorbitant salary.
Now, Mineo is out, replaced by Danielle Dattilio.
One With the Ocean (OWO) is proud to introduce Danielle Dattilio as its new President, taking the baton from founder Bryan Mineo. In 12 years, Bryan steered OWO from a humble band of three swimmers to a nationwide community with weekly workout sessions at multiple locations around the U.S. Since the beginning, the mission has remained the same: introducing people to the joys of ocean swimming, emphasizing friendship, water safety, and marine stewardship.
Bryan commented on the new appointment: "OWO is an inclusive water community that grew from a small weekly meetup group to a national organization with 20 chapters. I’m proud to have launched this movement and even prouder to pass the torch to Danielle. From day one at OWO, she was an active promoter, recruiter, and leader–she knows how to take us to the next level better than anyone else.”
An accomplished waterwoman, Danielle is a lifelong swimmer from Lexington, Kentucky, who was team captain for the DePauw University swim team. She first joined OWO in 2018 when training for an Ironman event, which she completed in May 2019. Hooked on ocean swimming, she swam the La Jolla Cove 10-mile relay solo, winning the female non-wetsuit division in 2021. Next was an ultramarathon swim across the width of Lake Tahoe (12 miles) in 2022 and countless open water races and adventure swims with friends.
Danielle even told me she wouldn’t be taking a salary, “Bryan got {a} job offer he couldn’t refuse and has moved on. At this time, we are an all-volunteer organization & excited for the future!”
Along with announcing a change at the top, OWO also announced that it received a grant of more than $500,000. That grant came from the California Parks and Recreation. At the time of the article over the weekend, Parks and Rec had not completed their statement.
The statement arrived earlier today.
California State Parks awarded One with the Ocean a 2022 Outdoor Equity Program grant for the strengths of the proposed Play in the Waves program. The grant for $532,577 includes to run swimming lessons at Algin Sutton Recreation Center in the City of Los Angeles, and once the youth become more proficient swimmers, the grantee will take the youth and families to the beach to swim in the ocean. Additionally, the program includes approximately 704 activity days in the community for approximately 22,000 participants and approximately 144 trips to natural areas for approximately 7,000 participants during four years of programming.
The grantee has partnered with local coach Louis Pecot of Revolution Aquatics, a 501(c)(3). Coach Louis has years of competitive swimming and diving coaching experience in this age group and at the high school level. Additionally, he has worked for many aquatic agencies including Los Angeles County, Los Angeles Unified School District, YWCA and YMCA, including as an assistant diving coach at Pomona-Pitzer College and assistant diving coach at Biola University. Coach Louis started Revolution Aquatics in 2017 to address the disparities in swimming instruction for families in the inner city.
In 2023, the grantee reported 113 community activity days and one nature area trip were completed. The grant will pay for the scope deliverables described on the Parks for All California public website. The website provides the proposed deliverables and reports for all grants awarded through the department’s Office of Grants and Local Services (OGALS). Detailed information on the Play in the Waves program is available on this site, which includes what the grantee proposed and what they have accomplished to date: https://www.parksforcalifornia.org/project/22386/
Additionally, OGALs requests from each grantee the status of their programs every six months and programs are also subject to audits.
Since 1964, more than 7,700 parks throughout California have been created or improved through OGALS' administered grant funding. Since 2000, OGALS has administered approximately $3.8 billion in grant funding throughout California.
As I noted over the weekend, Revolution Aquatics, the “partner” as Parks and Rec called them, runs its non-profit with no fundraising.
Last year, OWO only raised approximately $33.000 in donor funds.
Somehow, they managed to teach lots of little kids in the inner city how to swim while raising a fraction of the $532,000 California just gave them. What they’re going to do with the money remains a mystery. Danielle did not provide any guidance, and the statement from Parks and Rec does little to clear things.
California is billions in debt, and the reasons for that are less mysterious.
Why does a NPO that does no fundraising and functioned without it for years suddenly need a half a million dollar grant to do the same exact thing they did while putting no effort into fundraising? Especially one that still hasn't explained why they paid this clown so much money when they apparently had none?
Also, swimming in the ocean is DANGEROUS. Everything wants to eat you, there'a riptides waiting to drag you out and drown you and it's cold AF. Not sure ocean swimming lessons are a great idea, unless their class involves treading water in calm waters to not drown? How to get stung by jellyfish?