Feature Story

October 2021

NAYS Partnership Will Provide Sporting Goods Where Needed

The National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS) has teamed up with Leveling the Playing Field (LPF) to provide free donated sporting goods to schools, recreation centers and other youth-serving organizations working in under-resourced communities.

LPF operates warehouses in local communities, where they distribute an average of $1 million worth of gear every year to around 250 different schools and programs per warehouse. Since 2013, it has distributed almost $8 million worth of gear to thousands of programs in need.

"The cost of sports equipment is one of the many barriers holding families back from participating in youth sports programs," said NAYS Executive Director John Engh. "Leveling the Playing Field already has a great system of collecting and redistributing sporting goods in multiple cities, and we are thrilled to support their growth into more communities by introducing it to our network of youth sports leaders throughout the country."

Leveling the Playing Field's model involves collecting donated goods from affluent youth sports communities and redistributing them to programs in need. The equipment it has collected has successfully helped local schools and youth programs expand their capacity and effectively increase participation in youth sports. It has applied the same model used across the country by diaper banks, book banks, food banks and others.

"We are so excited to partnering with NAYS because of their decades-long commitment to making sure all kids have access to positive youth sports experiences," said Max Levitt, founder and executive director of Leveling the Playing Field. "This partnership will allow us to hopefully identify communities across the country that have a dire need for donated sporting goods so that their students can get off the sidelines and participate in sports."

Leveling the Playing Field currently operates chapters in Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia. It also runs a robust volunteer program in its warehouses where community members can contribute their time to keep the warehouses sorted, inventoried and organized.