LIFT: Leverage Investment, Foster Thriving.
Arlington already said every family deserves to thrive.
This fall, the county is rewriting the plan that decides whether that's true.
Let's help them build it.
Three specific, achievable policy commitments — beginning with the PSMP Refresh this fall.
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.
A $4.9 billion Capital Improvement Plan with zero new athletic fields is a statement of values. It should be changed.
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.
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.
Read the full caseSports and recreation are not lifestyle amenities. They 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.
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.
Sports and recreation spaces are civic infrastructure. They are where children develop, where parents build community, and where neighbors become friends across income levels and zip codes. When that infrastructure disappears, belonging disappears with it. In Arlington's most displacement-vulnerable neighborhoods, accessible recreation is anti-displacement infrastructure.
ASAP is a growing coalition of community organizations, sports leagues, health advocates, and Arlington residents united around one goal: helping Arlington build the sports and recreation infrastructure its own goals already promise.
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.