In honor of Black History Month, the Michigan-based Goldfish Foundation held a swim meet on Saturday at Seaholm High School. The goal of the meet was to promote diversity and raise awareness for parents to enroll children into life-saving swim lessons.

Metro Detroit's first-ever dual swim meet, the MAROON Cup, was held in Birmingham, featuring Seaholm High School versus U-D Jesuit. Among the young athletes, in attendance was also a four-time Olympic medalist and the first African American swimmer to hold a world record, Cullen Jones.

"What I have been able to become for young swimmers ... it's a gift every day," said Jones.

At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Jones set the world record for the freestyle relay team. In total, Jones has 13 U.S. medals, including seven golds at major international competitions, making him a role model for many, including Kaden Patterson.

"I'd be able to learn from his experiences being a Black man in a mostly white sport and from there, I'd be able to take what he learned as he got older and apply them right now," said Kaden.

The 14-year-old is part of the University of Detroit Jesuit High School swim team.

"I mean even in this meet, how many kids of color do you see?" asked Faraz Javed, 7 News Detroit reporter.

"Not many, even on our team right now, it's only about five or six in total, and it's the same with many teams throughout this league YMCA, USA and that's something that just needs to change," said Kaden.

That's why the foundation's ambassador, Jones, aims to promote swimming among the youth.

According to the CDC, Black children are nearly eight times more likely to drown.

"And you could have been part of that statistic," said Faraz.

"Yes..." replied Jones.

Jones was 5 years old when he nearly drowned at a water park.

"I ended up being underwater for more than 30 seconds, they say a child can have brain damage being underwater for more than 30. They had to pull me out, fully resuscitate me, but my parents were like 'OK never again, we're getting in the swim lesson,'" said Jones.

Hearing such horror stories encouraged Natalie Jones-Brown to enroll her son Kaden into a swim program when he was 5.

"Water safety should be the top priority so that your kid is confident in the water and safe, and then like with Kaden, that became his passion, and then we just kept going," said Brown.

Kaden says swimming has made him a better person and grateful for his mom.

"It's made me realize all the things my mom has done for me. 'Cause it's not just me waking up early in the morning at 5 a.m. She's there waking me up, [to] take me to practice," said Kaden.

Meanwhile, the founder of The Goldfish Foundation, Chris McCuiston, aims to introduce swim programs to underserved communities, overcoming any roadblocks.

"Potentially financial, some of it has to do with the location. Some of them may be awareness, probably ... a stigma out there that we just don't learn to swim, I need to change that, because everyone needs to learn regardless," said McCuiston.

To learn more about the foundation, click here.

As technology evolves, more people have access to the internet, and children are potentially at a greater risk than ever of being exploited online.

Dave Alley, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations - Detroit (HSI), and he's working to take down those who are child predators.

Alley is a father of four from St. Clair. He says in 2014, the National Center for Missing Children sent about 1 million leads regarding child sexual abuse. By 2023, that number jumped to approximately 35.9 million.

"The greatest thing I do every day is being a father. I love my job. I love what I do, but being a father is the most important thing to me," Alley told me.

"Has that been the motivation for your current job?" I asked.

"Very much. All kids deserve to grow up happy and healthy with a positive childhood," he said.

Alley joined HSI 17 years ago. For the last 10 years, he has been investigating crimes against children.

"In these 10 years, what has changed?" I asked.

"We are seeing more and more tips coming in, cases coming in. We are inundated with victims, with offenders. There is just so much more access to both the internet and two materials," he said.

The State Department defines child exploitation as victims under the age of 18 used in a sexual act, including pornography, sex trafficking, and sextortion, among others. Alley examines evidence from these heinous crimes as part of his investigation to get to the perpetrators.

"Every time you see it, it's horrific to a degree. But the first time is absolutely a shock. We have a number of programs to help take care of agents who have to work these kinds of cases," he said.

Last year, HSI alone investigated nationally close to 7,000 child exploitation cases, which led to the arrest of nearly 5,000 suspects, of which 121 cases came from Michigan with 64 of those from the metro Detroit area.

"What is the commonality behind these predators?" I asked.

"We see professionals, we see people who are living in moms basement. We see it all across every age, race, and socioeconomic status; the commonality that I would say is a sexual interest in children," he said.

Throughout his career, Alley has arrested over a hundred predators.

"Every time I make an arrest, every time a lead that I sent out results in an arrest, I write the name of my offender on a poker chip and put it in this jar," he said.

There is a color system. Green offenders are from difficult cases, and blue chips are if he has arrested you twice, and the two red chips are for two of the worst offenders Alley said he's ever arrested in Michigan.

"One was a hands-on offender committing a violent act against numerous children he had access to. The other is a sextortionist who had dozens and dozens of victims across the world, threatening them with physical harm if they didnt produce videos that he was interested in," he said.

The first red poker chip is for 60-year-old Michael Pierce from Lake Orion, who was sentenced to 90 years in federal prison. Meanwhile, 34-year-old Colin Martin from Center Line was sentenced to 40 years also in a federal prison. Both pled guilty.

"Does anything shock you now?" I asked.

"Probably every six months I see something and say, 'That its! The worst thing Ill ever see.' And then six months will go by and Ill say, 'OK well thats it. Thats the worst thing I will ever see.' So I dont know if theres an upper limit. I make it a point to when I put a name in the jar right that my wifes around, my kids are around and they can see that the quantification of the good that Im trying to do," he said.

As the investigation continues for numerous other cases, Dave says there is only so much law enforcement can do.

"Where do you think parents are making a mistake?" I asked.

"I think by and large it's the lack of knowing what their kids are doing on their devices. And its not lazy parenting, its not bad parenting, its the lack of knowledge of what a particular app may do, that particular app may be safe or not," he said.