Mission & Vision
Diving with a Purpose (DWP) is a leading international organization that provides education and training programs, mission leadership, and project support services for submerged heritage preservation and conservation projects worldwide with a focus on the African Diaspora.
Diving with a Purpose (DWP) is a 501C3 organization dedicated to the conservation and protection of submerged heritage resources by providing education, training, certification and field experience to adults and youth in the fields of maritime archaeology and ocean conservation. Our special focus is the protection, documentation and interpretation of African slave trade shipwrecks and the maritime history and culture of African-Americans who formed a core of labor and expertise for America’s maritime enterprises.
DWP started
Our History
Diving with a Purpose started with a phone call from filmmaker Karuna Eberl in 2003. As the Southern Region Representative for the National Association of Black Scuba Divers (NABS), I helped her find Black divers to interview for her documentary about the slave ship Guerrero.
During the project, I met Brenda Lanzendorf, an archaeologist at Biscayne National Park who was passionate about documenting shipwrecks but needed help. I reached out to my NABS colleagues with the message: “Tired of the same old dives? Let’s dive with a purpose!” Erik Denson, Erly Thornton, Rod Singleton and I took an underwater archaeology course, and DWP was born.
Today, over 500 divers have completed the course and 46 have become instructors, including 16 young divers from Youth Diving With A Purpose, a youth organization I co-founded. Though Brenda Lanzendorf has passed away, her legacy continues through hundreds of African-American archaeology enthusiasts who now dive with a purpose.
Ken Stewart
DWP Founder and Program Director
Governing body
Board of Directors
We’ve Reached
Honors
Award-Winning Excellence
