The Case for New Arlington Fields Is Stronger Than Ever. Tell the County This Fall.◆ Leverage Co-Sponsorship as a Field Funding Strategy◆ Rank Field Proposals Paired With Programming Higher◆ Direct Arlington Economic Development to Add Sports to its Mission◆ Join ASAP◆

LIFT Arlington

Arlington made a commitment for every family to thrive. This fall, the county is rewriting the Public Spaces Master Plan, the moment that could make that promise real.

Arlington Sports Access Partnership (ASAP) is a coalition of community organizations, sports associations, health advocates, and Arlington families united around one goal. Help Arlington keep that commitment by expanding sports access, a proven lever to lift wellbeing, workforce development, and belonging.

What it will take: Leverage Investment to Foster Thriving.

Join us and LIFT Arlington, ASAP.

Join the Partnership

What We're Asking For

Three specific, achievable policy commitments — beginning with the PSMP Refresh this fall.

1
Leverage Co-Sponsorship as a Field Funding Strategy

In the PSMP Refresh, formally recognize corporate co-sponsorship as a viable mechanism for expanding public athletic field access. Other jurisdictions have done it. Arlington hasn't made the ask.

2
Rank Field Proposals Paired With Programming Higher

Rank co-sponsorship as a strategy even higher when proposals are paired with expanded youth programming.

3
Direct Arlington Economic Development to Add Sports to its Mission

AED already runs a co-sponsorship model for arts and culture. The infrastructure and the relationships exist. This isn't a new program — it's pointing an existing one at sports.

The full argument

Why We're Asking

Because sports and recreation access isn't an amenity. It's the infrastructure behind wellness, economic opportunity, and community belonging — and Arlington is under-investing in all three.

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Wellness

Sports and recreation are documented behavioral health interventions.

For children, for adults, and for the family systems that hold communities together. When programs are cut and fees are raised, the whole family absorbs the loss. Arlington is facing an acute mental health crisis. Treating sports access as optional is a policy failure.

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Workforce

Access to sports is access to opportunity.

Only 23% of children living in poverty play organized sports, compared to 44% from households earning $100,000 or more. The field access gap is an economic opportunity gap — and Arlington is widening it at the exact moment families can least afford it.

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Belonging

Sports and recreation spaces are civic infrastructure.

Where children develop, parents build community, and neighbors become friends across income levels and zip codes. When that infrastructure is under-funded, belonging and the spaces that foster thriving disappear with it.

Why we're asking

Arlington Already Said the Right Things. Now It Needs to Build Them.

In 2019, Arlington County committed to completing the Athletic Field Availability Project — a systematic effort to document the gap between field demand and field supply, and build a policy framework for closing it. As of February 2026, that project is still listed as a work in progress. The county's $4.9 billion Capital Improvement Plan has funded zero new athletic fields.

Arlington has proposed eliminating a 47-year gymnastics program. Raised fees. Surveyed 107 people to set recreation access policy for 240,000 residents. Responded to years of documented field shortage by moving to restrict the last 6 percent of drop-in field access rather than expand the supply.

Arlington's own teenagers — in a county-recorded focus group — said there is nowhere to go, that access to courts and fields and pools is too expensive and too far, and that the absence of these spaces is a mental health problem. That community voice did not make it into the Arlington 2050 draft guiding principles in any specific or actionable form.

This fall, the Public Spaces Master Plan Refresh is the window to build it. ASAP is organizing the community to show up ready.

The full case

On the Record

ASAP is present in every official county process that matters. This is the running record.

August 27, 2026
"The Case for New Arlington Fields Is Stronger Than Ever. Tell the County This Fall."

Published in Patch. Sam Myers Jr. lays out the full case for why the PSMP Refresh Series 3 comment window is the moment to act.

August 17, 2026
PSMP Refresh — County Planner Confirms Series 3 Coming This Fall

Arlington's PSMP Refresh project team confirmed that Series 3 community engagement is coming this fall. ASAP will be there — and ready with a specific, documented ask.

The full record
Act This Fall

The public windows.

PSMP Refresh — Series 3 Public Engagement

This is the official county process where field access policy for the next decade gets written. Confirmed for this fall; exact date to be announced. ASAP is organizing the community voice to show up with a specific ask.

Arlington County Board — Monthly Public Meetings

The county's elected decision-makers meet monthly in public session. Public comment is open to all residents. The Board also holds periodic office hours — a direct, lower-stakes channel to put ASAP's ask on the record with individual members.

Arlington County Sports Commission

The advisory body that already put the Athletic Field Availability Project's status on the record as "a work in progress" in February 2026. Meets regularly and is a direct channel for community testimony on field access policy.

Add your voice.

Sign Up to Be Notified

Arlington needs your voice.

Whether you lead an organization, coach a team, raise a child, or simply believe Arlington should be a place where every family can play — ASAP needs you.

For organizations: join the coalition. Your presence in official county processes is what changes the political calculus.

For individuals: sign up for updates. Know when we're appearing, what we're asking for, and how to add your voice.